Hollywood grieves the passing of Proposition 8 in California : Netglimse.com News

Hollywood grieves the passing of Proposition 8 in California

More than thousand people have protested against California's ban on gay marriage.

Now gradually Hollywood stars are also joining the protesters. Many celebrities grieved the passing of Proposition 8 in California this week.

Celebrities like Lance Bass, Rose McGowan and Wanda Sykes attended a protest on Wednesday criticizing the state's gay marriage ban.

Other celebrities like Madonna, Ellen DeGeneres, Melissa Etheridge and Rosie O'Donnell have expressed their frustrations online and onstage.

Blocks away from the Thursday rally of more than 2,000 gay-rights advocates outside the gates of a Mormon temple, several stars including Sean Penn, Patricia Clarkson, Anjelica Huston and James Cromwell said that they supported the protesters while walking the red carpet at the BAFTA L.A. Brittania Awards at Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel.

Academy Award and Golden Globe winning American film actor and director Sean Penn said, "I think it might be an idea to go out and join them shortly. It was a shameful decision that was made".

On her show and the show's Web site, eleven-time Emmy Award winning American stand-up comedienne, television hostess and actress, Ellen DeGeneres has given a message of support on Friday for President-elect Barack Obama and the gay-rights advocates protesting Proposition 8.

Ellen DeGeneres, who married actress Portia de Rossi in August, told the audience, "There was a demonstration here on Wednesday night and just before I walked out here, I was watching the news and there is a huge, huge, peaceful demonstration going on in the streets, and I say, good for you, and I support you, and if I weren't here, I'd be out there with you".

Rosie O'Donnell, the former talk show host, who lives with partner Kelli Carpenter and their four adopted children, publicly wed Carpenter in San Francisco in 2004, two weeks after Mayor Gavin Newsom authorized granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The licenses were later voided by the California Supreme Court.

Disco jockey Samantha Ronson, who is girlfriend of Lindsay Lohan, has blogged on Thursday that she is shocked that California voters approved an animal-rights initiative but that ballot measures about gay marriage and adoption in California, Florida, Arizona and Arkansas were shot down.

Singer Christina Aguilera also spoke out against the ban.