As many as 250 brightly dressed protesters marched in support of gay marriage and civil rights Saturday afternoon in Nob Hill.
The pack of supporters unfurled rainbow banners, shook tambourines, beat drums and chanted as they marched west on Central Avenue toward University Boulevard just before 1 p.m.
Organizer and student Brittany Arneson headed the action, directing the chants and rallying the crowd.
“We are here to defend a simple justice — equality.” she said, “It is absurd that the LGBT community is still facing so many discriminatory acts.”
Protesters included members and allies of LGBT organizations, including Albuquerque Darlings, A.N.S.W.E.R., Get Equal, Pink Panthers and UNM’s Queer Straight Alliance.
Local news cameras arrived just as demonstrators held hands and spanned across the crosswalk at University and Central, blocking traffic for almost five minutes. Arneson banged a drum to the beat of the marchers’ chant, “Gay, straight, black, white — marriage is a civil right!”
Alleviating traffic constriction, the marchers U-turned and made their way back toward Nob Hill. In the courtyard adjacent to the Bookstore, they passed the megaphone among themselves and made personal statements.
“I just love my gay dads,” 7-year-old Alegra Sewell said. “And I want them to get married.”
Arneson said she made a choice to stand up for what she believes in.
“I decided I could no longer sit and wait for the world to change,” she said. “I needed to do something now. We have to be daily activists. Be passionate, and quit allowing yourself to be trampled on by the ideologies of others.”
