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GREENSBORO - Brant Miller is an unabashed romantic.

He's picked out baby names. He's dreamed about his wedding - even designed some bridesmaid dresses for the occasion.

There is one catch. Miller, a UNCG student, can't get married because he's gay.

On Saturday, he stood on the steps of the Melvin Municipal Office building and asked about 200 other rally participants to ask their legislative representatives to expand marriage rights to gay people in North Carolina.

"We must act now," said Miller, 22 . "Our actions cannot take time for it is time to take action."

The Greensboro demonstration - and events like it in Raleigh, Chicago, New York and San Francisco - were a protest of the recent passage of California's Proposition 8, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

The measure approved by voters on Nov. 5 overturned a California Supreme Court decision in May that allowed gay marriage.

Voters in 30 states have enacted gay marriage bans. Massachusetts and Connecticut are the only states that allow gay marriage.

The local rally was organized by Mike Gilbert of Greensboro.

"It was too much, especially in California. People were given rights and they were taken away," Gilbert said.

Gilbert runs a Christian theater group in Greensboro.

"I am very proud to call myself a gay Christian," he told the cheering crowd Saturday. "But I don't know if I want to call myself a member of a group that would take away your rights."

At the peaceful demonstration, drummers played a methodical beat as students held rainbow flags and hand-painted signs arguing for equal rights.

Same-sex and heterosexual couples held hands and waved to cars that drove down West Washington Street, honking at the crowd.

Sarah Britt, 19, carried a signed saying she supports her gay brother, Kyle, 22. The Summerfield siblings came to the rally with their teenage sister, Audrey.

Sarah Britt said she wants her brother to be in her wedding one day - and she wants to be in his, too.

"We took a huge step forward electing an African American president," said Kyle Britt, a sentiment echoed by others at the rally. "Everyone wants change in '08. "

Join the Impact, which organized Saturday's demonstrations, asked supporters to refrain from attacking other groups during the rallies.

Seattle blogger Amy Balliett, who started the planning for the protests when she set up a Web page three days after the California vote, said persuasion is impossible without civility.

"If we can move anybody past anger and have a respectful conversation, then you can plant the seed of change," she said.

Balliett said supporters in 300 cities in the U.S. and other countries were holding marches, and she estimated 1 million people would participate, based on responses at the Web sites her group set up.

"We need to show the world when one thing happens to one of us, it happens to all of us," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com