Celebs Join Nationwide Protest Against Prop. 8

T.R. Knight, Ricki Lake and Broadway star Marissa Jaret Winokur were among the dozens of celebrities who joined the nationwide fight against California’s Proposition 8 at a rally in downtown LA on Saturday, according to an Access Hollywood staffer in attendance.

Ricki, Marissa, former “Xena: Warrior Princess” star Lucy Lawless, “Little Britain USA’s” Matt Lucas,” City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and Mayor Anthony Villaragosa were among those who spoke at the gathering — one of many set up across the country to protest the passing of Prop. 8 in the November 4 election, which eliminated the right of same sex couples to marry.

Alec Mapa of “Ugly Betty” was the MC of the event, which began with a crowd gathering at City Hall before marching through the downtown area.

Knight, pop singer Pink, and “America’s Next Top Model” Cycle 11’s Analeigh Tipton were also spotted in attendance among the crowd, which the Los Angeles Times estimated could reach 40,000 (they later revised the actual number down to 10,000 – 12,000).

Saturday’s protest in Los Angeles wasn’t the first time celebs have joined the anti-Prop. 8 movement – Ricki, Wanda, Rose McGowan, Drew Barrymore, James Franco and Janice Dickinson have turned up at recent LA-area protests.

And stars also appeared at protests in St. Louis, where actor Chad Allen spoke to a crowd of 1,000, Cincinnati, where Margaret Cho rallied attendees, and New York, where actors Wilson Cruz, Heather Matarazzo and Daniela Sea and former Miss America Kate Shindle were spotted. Comedian Wanda Sykes was with the crowd in Las Vegas, where she came out of the closet publicly in an interview with the Associated Press.

According to Derek Hartley of “The Derek And Romaine Show” on Sirius OutQ 109 satellite radio, Margaret, in town for her one-woman show, “sang a dirty song” to hundreds of protesters despite 42-degree weather and “yucky rain.”