On a freezing cold day just after Thanksgiving, a hundred or so gay rights protesters huddle, singing an old Southern Hymm. “Ain’t we got a right, to the tree of life,” the lyrics go.

In the days following the Nov. 4 elections, disgruntled gay-rights advocates Amy Balliet and Willow Witte
posted a quick website calling for others to join them in protest to California's Proposition 8.

The site "went viral"... explains Massachusetts state organizer Ryan MacNeely, who is 21.

According to the New York Times, it was receiving 50,000 hits an hour, and after three days, it crashed.

Two servers later the website is back up and running under the sponsorship of the website company Wet Paint.

Through the use of its website plus social networking sites Tweeter and Facebook, Join the Impact managed to get thousands to attend protests all over the United States and in London, Amsterdam and Toronto.

On November 15 in Boston, 8,000 gathered at City Hall to protest Prop. 8. In NY 10,000 demonstrated and in San Diego, 25,000 marched in the streets.

Opponents of same-sex marriage have proven time and time again that putting gay rights on the ballot is a surefire way to deny those same rights. Proposition 8, the amendment to overturn California's newly enacted right to same-sex marriage was no different.

The ban on gay marriage in California was helped by 20 million dollars funneled from Utah’s Mormon Church, plus millions more from Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, The Knights of Columbus, The American Family Association and numerous private individuals, the proposition banning same-sex marriage passed-- 52 to 47%.

Millions were spent trying to prevent its passage as well.

Gays and lesbians argue that they deserve equal rights and privileges afforded straight couples. While gay marriage was being debated in Massachusetts, openly gay State Senator Jarrett Barrios (now working in the private sector) tried to explain why gays need the benefits afforded by marriage.

In an interview with Ray Suarez of PBS, Barrios described what happened when he phoned the hospital when his son was sick with a very high fever.

“I reached a nurse at the hospital, and I started going into his symptoms. I told him the name and he said to me, are you the parent? I said my name is Jared. I'm the parent. The parent we had listed is Doug Hataway. That's my partner I said. But we don't have you listed. Are you married? You aren't. What ensued seemed like an eternity. When my child had 104.5 fever... I thought he could die on my watch while I was fighting with a nurse over whether I was his parent or not.”

When gay marriage was finally legalized in Massachusetts, Barrios married his partner, Doug Hattaway, and now they share legal parental rights.

Heather Baker, a Worcester lesbian mother and grandmother who married her longtime partner on May 17, 2004, sees the opposition to gay marriage this way,

She says “their fear is based on not understanding, so we need to teach them... and to let them know there’s nothing to be afraid of.” She goes on, We need to put our best foot forward, and.. [explain ourselves] through love and understanding and patience.” She says, we need to “humanize it.”

The first gay marriages in the United States were performed in the early hours of May 17, 2005 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Cambridge can now boast a lesbian mayor-- Denise Simmons, who followed in the footsteps of gay mayor Kenneth Reeves.

Cambridge prides itself as a defender of gay rights. “Its the only city in the country to have an LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bi Transgendered) commission” explains Ryan MacNeely.

Since 2004, 11,000 same sex marriages have been performed in Massachusetts. 18,000 were performed in California but are now in legal limbo. Connecticut legalized same-sex marriage in 2008.

Meanwhile the remaining states continue to prohibit gay marriage, 18 have established gay marriage bans.