Bigger turnout than expected

BOISE -- It’s a move that's triggered heated protests across the country. On Election Day, California voters approved a constitutional ban on same sex marriage.

Same sex marriage supporters planned simultaneous rallies in all 50 states today, including Idaho.

Proposition 8 passed by a 52 to 47 percent margin.

Protests in Idaho were on a much smaller scale than some metropolitan areas around the nation, but even in Boise, the turnout was much bigger than expected.

"We are here today not in anger, not to point the finger, to move forward to do what is right," said a speaker at the Boise rally.

It was a rally that packed the sidewalk on Capitol Boulevard in front of Boise City Hall.  An estimated 400 people gathered to take part in a nationwide protest.

"This is amazing and exciting to see this support and the common grounds that Idaho has," said Ryan Jensen and James Tidmarsh, married in California.

Ryan Jensen and James Tidmarsh are two men against Proposition 8.  They married in California in July.

"It was great for both of us, it was amazing, it was a right that we thought we would never have," said Jensen and Tidmarsh.

But with the passage of Proposition 8, that marriage became void to the government.

"We talked about it and decided that they can't take away our marriage, they could take away our legal status but they can't take away our marriage," said Jensen and Tidmarsh.

"We've been together for 14 years and we wanted to go to California to get married," said Marsha Palmer and Cheryl Clark.

Marsha Palmer and Cheryl Clark had plans to marry with their family and friends support -- but now they can't.

"We have been together for 14 years, we own a home in Meridian, we go to work, we put the trash out, we are good citizens, we pay our taxes, we want to get married," said Palmer and Clark.

The women say they were shocked with the results from the Election Day vote on Proposition 8.  They say what happened is not a gay issue but one of civil rights.

"It's an important issue for the United states of America because the gays are the last people that it's OK to discriminate against," said Palmer and Clark.

This isn't the only protest of its kind in Idaho today.  Three others took place in Sandpoint, Moscow and Pocatello.