‘Protecting our rights’

Waving a rainbow-colored sign that read “You will never take away our vows,” Ladera Ranch newlyweds Jill Avakian and Jamie Garris joined hundreds crowded on the sidewalks outside of South Coast Plaza on Saturday to protest the passage of Proposition 8, a statewide constitutional ban on gay marriage.

“We’re just trying to protect our rights,” Avakian said.

Partners for 12 years, Garris and Avakian were legally married in a courthouse ceremony Aug. 8.

Passed Nov. 4 with 52% of the vote, Proposition 8 now bars other gay couples in the state from marrying.

Shouting for equal rights, and waving signs with slogans such as “You don’t have to be gay to believe in equal rights” and “Does Jesus love you more for hating us,” demonstrators at South Coast Plaza joined thousands of people across the country who protested Saturday against the passage of anti-gay marriage ballot measures in California, Arizona and Florida. The activist website JoinTheImpact.com, which organized the rallies, counted demonstrations in 300 cities across the nation.

Tara Bui, a graduate student at UCI who helped organized the South Coast Plaza protest through the social networking website Facebook.com, said Costa Mesa was chosen as a protest site because of the area’s diversity.

“You have everything from Payless Shoes to Saks Fifth Avenue at South Coast Plaza,” Bui said. “We felt very strongly about the location. A lot of people come here from the smaller cities in Orange County to shop, so there’s a lot of diversity here and people from across the county.”

Some cars driving down Bear Street honked in support of the protesters, flashing peace signs or waving, while other drivers brandished offensive hand gestures at the shouting crowd.

“I think people are angry that Proposition 8 passed based on hate,” said Tustin resident Joe DiStefano, who has attended several No on 8 protests across Orange County since the measure passed Nov. 4.

“This is not a religious issue — it stands for our civil rights, and I think it’s a travesty that 52% of the people voted to take away our rights,” DiStefano said.

Mission Viejo resident Matt Brideson was married to his partner of 11 years on June 18, just a few days after the California Supreme Court decision to overturned a state ban on gay marriage went into effect.

Brideson stood on the sidewalk outside of South Coast Plaza on Saturday, carrying a poster board sign that read “Hope will never be silent,” a quote from Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California.

“I was raised a Christian, and it upsets me that people are hiding behind religion to take away our rights,” Brideson said.

Another anti-Proposition 8 protest is slated for 10 a.m. today outside of the Mormon temple in Newport Beach, located at 2300 Bonita Canyon Drive.

Opponents of the ballot measure claim that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bankrolled the Proposition 8 campaign.

A website created by gay-rights activists tracked campaign finance records during the course of the Proposition 8 campaign and claimed that Mormons donated more than $20 million in support of the ballot measure.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.