About 400 people packed the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday to rally for marriage equality and to urge legislators to forgo efforts to amend the Minnesota Constitution to ban relationship rights for same-sex couples. More than a dozen religious leaders from many faith traditions spoke of the importance of respecting all families.

“We are here as people of faith and as people of conviction to rally for a better Minnesota,” the Rev. Obi Ballanger of the Community United Church of Christ in St. Paul Park. “We gather here with our families to support the equal recognition of all families. We are people of many colors, shapes, abilities, orientations, and genders, because God is a creative artist. But love is love. And the families that form from our love deserve the same status and recognition as any other.”

Claire Bryan spoke about her two mothers, Liz Bryan and Linda Solka together for 25 years, and the struggles their family faces without the right to marry. Liz remarked, “We can’t be married in Minnesota, when we had Claire, Linda had to adopt her; we had to petition judge to allow us to parent our child legally.”

She added, “I don’t want to get married in your church, if you don’t want me that’s fine. Give us the civil rights and give Claire her family.”

Jessi Kingston of Edina, whose family comes from many different backgrounds because of adoption, divorce and remarriage, said, “A family’s love is not about looking alike or having that biological bond. A family is one that loves each other, is committed to each other and is involved in each others’ lives.

Sen. Scott Dibble told the crowd that fighting a constitutional amendment barring relationship rights for same-sex couples would be the biggest fight for the LGBT community yet.

“We have to dig in and work harder than we ever have before,” he said. “We can defeat this mean-spirited effort that’s afoot in our state capitol.”

Rep. Tarryl Clark agreed, “I do believe we can change the hearts and minds of my colleagues. We need to change their hearts and minds and their vote.”

She added, “The personal stories that we all tell make a difference.”

Sean Simonsen, a student at a suburban Catholic high school who recently penned an article about being gay which was censored by the school.

“My own archbishop created a DVD that called or further discriminate against me,” Simonsen said of the 400,000 anti-gay marriage DVD campaign that Archbishop John Neinstedt distributed just before the 2010 election.

“A new generation is starting to have it’s say. I know that my generation is going to use this new voice to stop any law or policy that prevents anyone from dreaming,” about getting married and having a family.

Michael Bayly of Catholics for Marriage Equality noted that the majority of Catholics support LGBT people.

“One of the most well funded and vocal groups working to deny civil marriage rights to gay people is the clerical hierarchy of the Catholic church,” he said. “Neinstedt and the clerical cast do not speak for the majority of Catholics. The data is clear: Catholics are a key movable middle. 62 percent believe in the acceptance of homosexuality and 50 percent support marriage equality.”

He added, “The Catholic hierarchy does not represent the thinking of the catholic people.”

The Uptake attended the Freedom to Marry Day Rally as well and provided this video: