In response to the California Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Proposition 8 and the 18,000 same-sex marriages that California allowed last year, more than 4,000 marriage-equality supporters marched from Balboa Park to the Hall of Justice Downtown, where GLBT leaders and supporters denounced a “tyranny of the majority” and outlined their next plan of action, last Tuesday.

Holding hands, flags, banners and pro-equality signs, marriage-equality supporters, expressing both anger and disappointment, marched south on Fifth Avenue and west on Broadway, shouting, “Shame on you Supreme Court.”

“We’re angry. We’re mad. We’re upset. We’re pissed and very disappointed,” said Tom Wilhein, Hillcrest resident, with his husband Richard, whom he married last September, after having been together for more than 30 years.

“I’m disappointed that Prop. 8 is upheld. I find it appalling. But I’m glad that people that were married are still married,” said Judy MacDonald, Bankers Hill resident.

As the crowd marched through Downtown, tenants looked out their windows, many of them pointing their cell phones down to capture pictures. San Diego Equality Campaign Executive Director Sara Beth Brooks led marchers with Pride at Work, San Diego Chapter Co-chair Carlos Marquez, Marriage Equality USA San Diego Chapter Leader Fernando Lopez, San Diego Young Stonewall Democrats President Allan Acevedo, San Diego Human Relations Commission Chair Nicole Murray-Ramirez and City Councilmember Todd Gloria following behind.

At the Hall of Justice, the Women’s Drum Circle greeted the marchers with African drumming. Former City Council candidate Stephen Whitburn welcomed marchers with an opening speech after the performance.

“Today, this Court issued a ruling that undercuts the constitutional principle that defends the rights of the minority against the tyranny of the majority and undermines the historic progress we have made against discrimination,” said Whitburn.

Mayor Jerry Sanders and San Diego LGBT Community Center Executive Director Delores Jacobs echoed Whitburn’s reaction.

“Sadly, the California Supreme Court let a simple majority of the people of California take the rights away of anybody they want. I think this is a frightening signal for everyone in the state of California. When they can point at any one group and decide that they don’t deserve the same rights as anybody else, they can point at any group,” said Sanders, standing beside Gloria, daughters Jaime and Lisa Sanders, Lisa’s partner Meagan Yaple and wife Rana Sampson.

“It only takes 4 percent of friends, neighbors and total strangers, who don’t know anything about your faith, your life, and your commitment to love, to strip away your fundamental freedoms,” said Jacobs.

Reflecting both anger and frustration, Brooks told the rally, “We are a community who has continued to ask for civil rights, and we are a community who continues to be denied these rights.”

There was, however, cause for celebration, Gloria insisted.

“I don’t want you to lose sight of the fact that 18,000 couples in this state are married today. They were married last year; they are married right now, and they’re going to be married next year,” he said.

Besides, said Marriage Equality USA Fernando Lopez, we will prevail.

“Even now in the dusk and shadows of Proposition 8, we will rise again,” he said.

In light of the court’s decision, marriage equality leaders said their next plan of action will be a new proposition to overturn the state’s same-sex marriage ban, slated for 2010.

“[On] Nov. 2, 2010, we will take marriage equality back to the ballot,” Brooks said.

“We can and will reverse this injustice at the ballot box,” said Equality California (EQCA) Regional Field Manager Jacqueline Palmer.

EQCA is launching a new, statewide marriage-equality campaign called, “Win Marriage Back: Make it Real!,” to overturn the same-sex marriage ban, announced Palmer.

“We will talk with people in their homes, their neighborhoods, their places of worship, online and on the airwaves, and together as a community we will win at the ballot box,” she said.

Representatives for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) voiced their support for the 2010 plan.

“I want you to know that when you get the initiative back on the ballot, that the NAACP will be right there beside you,” said San Diego NAACP President Lei-Chala Wilson.

“I know you are ready to repeal Prop. 8 and the HRC will stand with us again,” said HRC San Diego Co-chair Joel Trambley.

Chris Horton of North Park, who attended the march and rally, said he just wanted the same right to marry as his straight siblings.

“I’ve been with my partner for 11 years. I would like to have the same opportunity to marry as my brothers have. I have three brothers, and they all have been married and divorced and there’s nothing right or wrong with that. But I want to have that same right,” Horton said.

“Everyone should have that right,” said Karen Zimmerman, at the rally, with her wife Julie Brown of Oak Park. The couple married last September and have been together for 13 years.

Aside from one silent protester at the rally, there was no anti-same-sex marriage opposition at the march or rally, said organizers, and police said there were no citations issued or arrests made. “The event was 100 percent peaceful,” said San Diego Police Department Central Division Captain Christopher Ball.

Local marriage-equality supporters will join statewide activists and organizations this Saturday, May 30, at Fresno City Hall at 1 p.m. for the Meet in the Middle rally to protest the Supreme Court ruling. Fresno’s attitudes toward GLBT equality are far more reflective of national attitudes towards GLBTs than they are in gay friendly cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, and therefore marriage equality has to be fought in such towns, say organizers. Buses and caravans will be offered but those with transportation are encouraged to carpool. Fresno City Hall is located at 2600 Fresno Street in Fresno, Calif. For more information, visit www.meetinthemiddle4equality.com.