10,000 march for true marriage in New York – more events planned

by Jeremy Kryn

Participants march in the pro-true marriage rally on Sunday.

New York, NY, July 26, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This past Sunday, an estimated nearly 10,000 people participated in a New York City rally and march in support of the traditional definition of marriage. The rally, which was organized by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), took place on the same day as the first homosexual “marriages” were legally performed in New York State.

More than 200 people also attended a NOM rally organized in Buffalo, New York on Sunday. In addition to New York City and Buffalo, NOM held rallies in Albany, Rochester, and Syracuse.

“The crowds of supporters were just amazing,” said Brian Brown, NOM’s president. “The crowd in Manhattan was so large the New York Police Department asked us to begin our march early so that we could relieve overcrowding at the gathering site.”

The New York City march began in front of Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo’s New York City offices on Park Avenue and then proceeded to the United Nations. Men and women waved Bibles and sang hymns, and cries of “Jesus, Jesus” and “Let the People Vote” reverberated through the city streets.

The Wall Street Journal reported that one counter protester was present, a muscular bald white man who held aloft a sign that read: “ADVANCEMENTS: STOP DRAGGING YOUR KNUCKLES!!! CATCH UP, EINSTEINS!!!”

The nearly 10,000 people at Sunday’s rally and march was less than the approximately 20,000 who attended a similar event in New York in 2009, also organized by NOM and Democratic New York State Senator Diaz. Many of the people who attended Sunday’s rally were Hispanic members of the Bronx church run by Diaz, an ordained pastor. A quarter to a third of the crowd, according to the Wall Street Journal, was African-American.

Brown said that NOM will help organize monthly activities to keep up public pressure in support of true marriage.

“The rallies yesterday were just the beginning,” he said. “Every month we’ll be calling on supporters to take action and to help us grow our coalition. Working with leaders such as Sen. Ruben Diaz, Bishop Joseph Mattera, New Yorkers for Constitutional Rights president Jason McGuire and others, we will create the largest coalition ever assembled in New York history by the time we’re done.”