(New York City) Thousands of people demonstrated for marriage equality on opposite sides of the country Sunday, staging simultaneous walks across walks across the Brooklyn and the Golden Gate bridges.

In 2006, the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, ruled that same-sex couples do not have a constitutional right to marry. The court said that the issue, however, could be taken up by the Legislature.

A bill that would allow same-sex couples to marry in New York passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly last year, but Republicans who control the Senate have refused to consider the legislation.

New York Gov. David Paterson earlier this year issued an executive order recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples who were married in states and countries where same-sex marriages are legal. A challenge by Republicans was thrown out in court.

“There is nothing better we can do to help the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community than to win back the state Senate,” NY City Council President Christine Quinn (D), a lesbian, told the marchers.

In California, same-sex marriage has been legal since May, but marchers in San Francisco were drawing attention to Proposition 8, a ballot measure that would end same-sex marriage in the state.

In May, the California Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriage and conservative groups began a ballot measure to amend the state constitution to bar same-sex unions.

The battle over same-sex marriage began in 2004, when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Thousands of gay and lesbian couples were married before the California Supreme Court declared Newsom had acted illegally and nullified the marriages that resulted.

The debate over same-sex marriage in the state then moved to the courts, finally ending with the high court ruling.

Recent public opinion polls suggest that the proposed amendment to block same-sex marriage in California is in trouble.