Flourishing signs and banners, some 1,000 people marched on Saturday from the Government Center Plaza in downtown Minneapolis to Loring Park, protesting against ‘proposition 8’, a California constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Proposition 8’s unexpected success on Nov. 4 in predominantly Democratic California sent ripples among the gay community. The community is a diverse group, so much so in fact that it has trouble even with what to call itself. Queer, gay and LGBT (lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender) are popular self-referential monikers.

The amendment won’t legally affect gay people in Minnesota, where gay marriage is also not permitted, even if it is not prohibited by Minnesota’s constitution. According to Anne Phibbs, director of the GLBTA programs office at the University of Minnesota, Proposition 8 (or ‘Prop hate’ as it has come to be known among younger community members) is a measurement of straight Americans’ view on gay Americans.

''It’s significant for the community and the University of Minnesota because it brings forward a national debate about where our country is on issues of equity and equality for GLBT Americans,'' Phibbs said.

She went on to mention that denying gay couples to marry creates practical problems for them. Phibbs has been an ‘out’ lesbian for almost three decades.

"It’s a denial of civil rights," she said. “There are rights that are impacted in terms of children and how family is understood, financial rights, access to health care, access to health insurance and benefits.”

Protests similar to the ones in Minnesota have taken places in dozens of cities across the nation on Saturday. By way of these manifestations the gay community comes together, says Phibbs who will attend the protests along with her children, but will also send out a message to Americans regardless of their orientation.

''To those people who see us as different from others, as say, a threat to the American family, I want to … say, well I am an American family,'' she said. ''My personal values of equality for all people and respect and working hard and trying to be an engaged citizen of the United States of America — those are not antithetical to our traditional notions of family and what it means to be an American.''

Jessica Rosenberg, who organized one of the protests, said that the passage of Proposition 8 caused diverse and often divergent gay groups to come together as one.

''If there’s a group of old gay men who want to get married and a group of young punk dykes who want to take down patriarchy, I know these groups don’t have much in common,” Rosenberg said, “but hey, homophobes don’t see the difference.''

Proposition 8 is seen by its opponents as a civil rights issue. It created an outrage after black people, who supported President-elect Barack Obama in throngs, also voted en-masse for the gay marriage ban, at a rate of 70%.