Barry Russell has a past and a present with state Sen. Mike Brubaker —and a future yet to be written.

Russell, the co-director of Rainbow Rose Community, a local human-rights group dealing with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, and Brubaker attended high school together at Manheim Township, where, Russell said, he was teased and bullied by other students because he was gay.

Russell said there was little he could do to stop the bullying, but today he's trying to stop what he sees as discrimination against the gay community in the form of legislation introduced last month by Brubaker: the Marriage Protection Amendment.

Russell was joined by dozens of residents Sunday afternoon at Lancaster County Democratic Committee Headquarters on North Duke Street, where they spoke out against the proposed amendment, which would ban civil unions in Pennsylvania, and planned political action to defeat it.

"With all the other issues we need to face — poverty and jobs, homelessness, heath care — (banning gay marriage) seems to be an important issue, and I'm not sure why," Russell said.

Sunday's rally, sponsored by Rainbow Rose Community, featured petition signing, a letter-writing campaign and speeches by political hopefuls, including Bruce Slater, who is running as a Democrat for the 16th Congressional District.

Members of Rainbow Rose said they view Senate Bill 1250, the Marriage Protection Amendment, as a way of writing discrimination against gays and lesbians into the Pennsylvania Constitution by denying them marriage rights, civil unions or other equivalents to marriage.

Even though its members said they don't see themselves as a political group, Rainbow Rose participants said they were motivated to take action against the proposal's passage. The group is gathering letters in protest of the amendment to send to Brubaker and other legislators.

Max Phillips, co-director of Rainbow Rose, said he was shocked to learn that the marriage amendment was even being talked about because the Pennsylvania Constitution already states that marriage is between a man and a woman.

After the initial shock, Phillips said, he was angry, and it motivated him to seek some sort of action to stop the legislation.

Under the amendment, Phillips said, gay couples would be denied rights that even unmarried straight couples have. He said people need to know that gay and lesbian couples are perfectly capable of maintaining stable relationships and families, just as he has with his partner of seven years.

"We are in committed relationships, and we want the same thing that everyone else wants," Phillips said. "We just want to be secure in our relationships, we want to be able to pay our taxes together, we want to be able to share health care — all of those things that come with a legal marriage in this state."

Alanna Berger, executive director of Silent Witness of Central Pennsylvania, an organization of gay and straight members that promotes non-confrontational tactics at rallies, said many gay couples have been together for as long as 30 years.

When the couples get older, Berger said, they want documents in place to provide for the health and economic security of their partners. She held up a sign that said "Their marriage doesn't hurt my marriage."

"When you demean (gay people's) rights, when you take away their rights, when you treat them as second-class citizens, you are demeaning me as a straight person," Berger said.

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