from the open publishing newswire: Hundreds of Houstonians gathered in downtown starting at noon, as similar rallies and protests against proposition 8 and in favor of the rights of marriage for gays and lesbians took place all across the country and abroad. There were a number of speakers from the GLBT community, and the democratic party. The crowd was diverse in terms of age and gender, it was predominately white, thought there were many people of color. While you cant tell sexual orientation by looking at folks, it seemed to me that definately the majority of the crowd was GLBTQ and there were many straight folks, most of us young, that also came out to support the struggle for civil rights.

Speakers included Garnet Coleman, Jessica Farrar, Ray Hill (who was fantastic, as usual), people from faith communities, lawyers and others. People seemed happy to be there and eager to take action, It was not made clear what will happen next in Houston for folks who want to fight for GLBTQ rights. [full article with photos]

Local Fight H8 group | More Photos from the Rally | Coverage from Houston Press's Hairballs | Houstonians funding the campaign for Proposition 8 in California | Videos from the rally