Demonstrators took to the streets of Los Angeles for a second straight night Thursday to protest Tuesday's passage of California's Proposition 8, a ballot measure amending the state's constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry, which passed by a 52 percent margin. The measure supersedes a state Supreme Court ruling that briefly gave same-sex couples the right to wed.
The Associated Press reported that more than 2,000 people convened outside the gates of a local Mormon temple to condemn the church's role in getting the measure passed. Protestors contend leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spent millions in television ads and mailings in an effort to encourage its followers to vote in favor of the proposition.
The protests continued in the face of questions about whether civil attempts to overturn the prohibition could succeed. The passage also puts the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in California over the past four months in question. Some fear those marriages will be nullified, although supporters of the ban claim they won't seek to invalidate marriages already performed.
Demonstrators converged outside a temple in the city's Westwood section Thursday night and made their way toward the western end of Los Angeles, chanting, "Separate church and state" and "What do we want? Equal rights," according to the AP. Two people were reportedly arrested following a confrontation between the crowd and a man in a pickup truck, who was displaying a banner supporting the measure. One demonstrator ended up with a bloody nose in the fracas; seven people were detained during Wednesday's protests.
(Check out footage of the protest, shot by an MTV News reader, on the Newsroom blog.)
Three legal challenges were filed by gay-marriage proponents Wednesday, arguing that the measure was actually a dramatic revision of California's constitution rather than a simple amendment; constitutional revisions must first pass the state's legislature before going to the voters.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, pop star Christina Aguilera joined Fall Out Boy and other celebrities who've spoken out against Proposition 8.
"Last night, there was a whole rally that I saw for Prop. 8," she told MTV News. "A lot of people came out with their signs, and I think [Prop. 8] is discrimination and I don't understand how people can be so closed-minded and so judgmental. We chose an African-American president, and it means so much ... [it's] a time in history of great change and open-mindedness. Why is this any different? It just doesn't make sense to me. Why you would put so much money behind something [aimed at] stopping from people loving each other and bonding together? I just don't understand it. It's hard for me to grasp. But I would've been out there with my rally sign as well."
A few moments later, she added, "Mormons aren't gonna buy my album but, you know, what are you gonna do?"
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