A few angry slurs and finger gestures aside, supporters of gay marriage received mostly friendly honks and cheers of support Saturday as they demonstrated in front of the Benton County Courthouse.

Faith Reidenbach, one of the organizers of the demonstration, said she understood the obscene gestures. “Marriage equality strikes at the heart of homophobia,” she said.

As Oregon voters did in 2006 when they passed measure 36, California voters amended their state constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, effectively rendering illegal any marriages between people of the same gender.

The 2007 Oregon Legislature has since passed laws that recognize civil unions between same-sex couples, guaranteeing many of the same automatic rights of inheritance, power of attorney and parental authority.

California’s move to ban gay marriage was inspired by a California Supreme Court decision that recognized same-sex marriage as a fundamental right.

Californians were frightened, Reidenbach said, but that’s their problem. Individual civil liberties shouldn’t be subject to majority rule, she said.

“Gay people have been punching bags in 29 states,” she said. “California makes 30, and California is different because it’s the first state where rights were taken away.”

The demonstration in Corvallis was one of many such events staged Saturday across the country. People are angry about what happened in California, Reidenbach said.

She said that people need to understand the difference between civil and religious marriages; that gay couples most want the legal recognition for their marriages.

“We don’t want to get married in every single church there is, but we do want the right of civil marriage.”

Civil unions aren’t the same. Although recognized in Oregon, civil unions do not confer a legal status that is automatically recognized in other states. They also don’t carry the same federal protections of traditional marriages, including the ability to have their partners considered in Social Security benefits.

Reidenbach said gay marriage is ultimately an issue that must be decided on the federal level.