NORMAL - David Lawrence said Friday he doesn't know if he will marry someday, but he wants the opportunity to. "I should have the option as a citizen of this country," he said.

That's why he joined about 100 to 200 people who marched on and around the Illinois State University campus Friday night to protest bans on same-sex marriage adopted Nov. 4 in statewide referendums in California, Arizona and Florida. Voters in Arkansas approved a measure preventing gays from adopting.

"As a gay man, I find it completely ridiculous," said David Lawrence, a senior from Peoria. "We should have the same rights and economic benefits as everybody else."

The protesters gathered at the flagpole on the quad and then marched on the quad and to the surrounding streets, including Locust, University and Main streets and College Avenue.

Students held signs with slogans such as "Did we vote on your marriage?" and "Love, not h8," the latter in reference to California's Proposition 8.

"Everybody has the right to a family with love," said sophomore Melissa Grogan of Tinley Park, who held a sign that said, "I may be straight, but I'm not narrow."

The ISU and Illinois Wesleyan University chapters of PRIDE (People Realizing Individuality and Diversity through Education) organized the event the night.

"We want to get to the streets," said ISU chapter President Ashley Clark.

The march also was held for the morale of the marchers, she added.

"A lot of it is more about those of us who are here to get energized," she said. "I think this is really important for our generation."

As the marchers reached Watterson Towers, they stopped briefly and chanted "One, two, three, four, we won't take this anymore! Five, six, seven, eight, stop the violence, stop the hate!"

At no point along the route was there evidence of counter protesters.

Although Clark said PRIDE opposes all marriage bans, Proposition 8 especially offended her because the California State Supreme Court had already ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Gays were being permitted to marry until the referendum stopped it.

"The rights of a minority should never be put to a popular vote," she said.

A.J. Kastinas, a sophomore from Champaign who said he hopes to marry someday, agreed.

"The thing about Proposition 8 is that it took away rights that were already there," he said. "I feel it's a terrible, terrible thing."

Danielle Rossi, president of the IWU chapter of PRIDE, said she considers Proposition 8 "a horrible stain on our nation's history."