GIDDY UP LITTLE KLUXERS AND GO ON HOME

It was not a good day for the Ku Klux Klan in Austin, Texas Saturday. Not a good day at all.

Ten men and four women calling themselves members of the American White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan gathered at City Hall plaza Saturday for a brief rally against gay marriage. The group said they were from San Angelo in West Texas. "We're asking Texans to vote for Proposition Number 2," Klan chaplain Steven Edwards told the crowds through loudspeakers set up on the plaza. "Not because the Ku Klux Klan supports it but because God supports it." Some Klan members, all of whom were dressed in black uniforms or jeans with Klan T-shirts, hid their faces behind masks made from Confederate battle flags.

The Kluxers were protected by about 200 police.

The opposition numbered at least 3000. Many anti-Kluxer demonstrators carried yellow daisies, sang peace songs and chanted anti-Klan slogans. Some held banners or signs that read, "Vote Against Bigotry," "Vote Against the Klan" and "Killers, Kowards, Kooks Go Away."

Protesters, including Bonn Ramsey of Austin, said they hope that the Klan's rally will encourage moderate Texans to vote against Proposition 2 on Election Day Tuesday. "People will think at the ballot: 'Do I really want to support what the KKK endorses?'" Ramsey said. "Austin's riled up now. It reaffirms the work we have to do."

Former state Rep. Glen Maxey, who is gay told the anti-Kluxers, "Our role today is to stand against their bigotry, their hate and Proposition 2." Maxey, campaign director for the group No Nonsense in November, turned his back on the Klan to speak to the demonstrators, who carried signs with messages such as "keep Austin tolerant" and "selectively denying rights is prejudice."

Maxey said Tuesday's vote is important, but changing Texans' minds about discrimination is more important.

The human rights activist group Texas Civil Rights Project plans to file a federal lawsuit against the city of Austin on Monday. They claim members of certain media outlets, as well as the demonstrators opposed to the Klan, were denied access to the rally, according to President Jim Harrington. Sources: The Eagle (College Station, Texas), Daily Texan, American Statesman (Austin), KLTV (Texas)