Protesters Riot with Police as Hundreds of Thousands March Against Gay Marriage in Paris: VIDEOS

A massive demonstration to stop the legalization of same-sex marriage brought out thousands of conservatives to the streets of Paris today.

Watch videos of the clashes and a report from Euronews, AFTER THE JUMP...

The Guardian reports:

Hundreds of thousands of people – conservative activists, children, retirees, priests – many bussed in from the French provinces – converged on the capital on Sunday in a last-ditch bid to stop the bill.

The lower house of France's parliament approved the "marriage for everyone" bill last month with a large majority, and it now faces a vote in the Senate next month. Both houses are dominated by President François Hollande's Socialist party and its allies. Sustained protests led by opposition conservatives in this traditionally Catholic country have eroded support for the draft law in recent months, and organisers hope Sunday's march will weigh on the Senate debate.

The first few hours of the protest were peaceful. But as it was meant to be winding down, about 100 youths tried to push past police barricades on to the Champs-Elysées. In an indication of the sensitivity of the issue, protesters had been barred from marching on the avenue that cuts through central Paris and draws throngs of tourists daily..

The crowd was estimated at 300,000 people, though organizers said it was 1.2 million.

Tears gas was used on a number of rioting protesters, The Local reports:

100 to 200 frustrated protestors had reportedly attempted to breach a police barricade blocking them from entering the Champs Elysees. In response, riot police forcibly pushed them back from the fences, as well as spraying them with tear gas.

Jean-François Copé, leader of the centre-right opposition UMP party, who was present at the protest, called for President Hollande to be "held to account", and expressed his "indignation" that tear gas had been deployed "against families present with their children."

Watch videos of the clashes and a report from Euronews, AFTER THE JUMP...

UPDATE: Real ugliness. Apparently the protesters were using children as human shields.

Prop. 8 Attorney David Boies Lays Out Supreme Court Case on 'Meet the Press' VIDEO

Prop. 8 attorney David Boies sat down with David Gregory on Meet the Press to talk about this week's case at the Supreme Court, emphasizing that the U.S. Constitution protects all Americans, or it doesn't, and he believes the Court will see that it does.

Said Boies:

"We believe that even if you simply apply the rational basis test, there is no rational basis to justify this ban. And that's because...there is no evidence. None. That allowing gay and lesbians to marry harms the institution of marriage or harms anyone else...The evidence is that having a loving couple that are married is great for children. Everybody agreed with that. But the evidence is that's true whether it's a gay couple or a straight couple. And it's true whether it's an adopted couple or a biological couple."

Gregory also pointed out all the states that currently have bans on same-sex marriage and asked, 'arent' you effectively asking the Court to say, with one stroke of the pen, we're going to invalidate what those states have done?"

Replied Boies: "Everytime the Supreme Court makes a constitutional decision it's making a decision that certain fundamental rights are too important to be left to the ballot box."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Evan Wolfson Schools Tony Perkins on 'Face the Nation': 'Gay People are not Going to Use Up the Marriage Licenses' — VIDEO

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, Freedom to Marry's Evan Wolfson, Daily Beast journalist David Frum, and Alliance Defending Freedom's Austin Nimocks participated in a roundtable this morning on Face the Nation to discuss the upcoming arguments at the Supreme Court and the rising support for marriage equality in the nation.

Evan Wolfson delivered this sizzler:

"Marriage is not defined by who is denied it. When gay people share in the freedom to marry, it doesn't change your marriage, it doesn't change Tony Perkins' marriage. My marriage is my marriage. And it means that I'm able to share in the same aspirations of commitment and love and support and dedication and connectedness, and that my parents are able to dance at our wedding. And our familiy and friends are able to support and celebrate and hold us accountable for the commitment we've made to one another. That takes nothing away from anyone else...

...The gay people are not going to use up all the marriage licenses when we enter marriage. And this is not just somebody saying it. We now have nine states including the District of Columbia, fourteen countries on four continents in which gay people share in the freedom to marry and the result is families are helped and no one is hurt."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Karl Rove: 'I Could' Imagine a 2016 GOP Presidential Candidate Saying 'I am For Gay Marriage - VIDEO

Mediaite clipped this moment from a discussion on ABC News' This Week this morning.

“Karl Rove, can you imagine the next presidential campaign a Republican candidate saying flat out ‘I am for gay marriage,’” asked Stephanopoulos.

“I could,” said Rove, before turning the discussion back to the Supreme Court’s hearing on the issue.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Rove of course, was key to making same-sex marriage a wedge issue in the 2004 election by placing several measures to ban it on the ballot in key swing states.

More on this roundtable, if and when it becomes available.

Atty General Kamala Harris: '50,000 Children in California...are Asking, Why Can't My Parents Be Married Too?' - VIDEO

California Attorney General Kamala Harris delivered a ferocious defense of equality when questioned this morning by CNN's Candy Crowley about why the state of California was not defending Proposition 8:

"I am absolutely against a ban on same-sex marriages because [bans] are simply unconstitutional...And the Constitution of the United States dictates, I believe, under every court precedent that we have discussed in terms of describing marriage as a fundamental right that the same-sex couples that are before the United states supreme court — Mrs. Windsor, Miss Perry — be allowed to have equal protection under the laws as any Americans when it comes to their ability to join themselves with their loving partners in marriage and raise their children...

...It gets back down to a very simple notion of fundamental rights, fundamental concepts of justice, fundamental concepts of liberty. We have 50,000 children in California right now who are asking, 'why can't my parents be married too?"

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Here's Video of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Telling Shareholder to Sell if He's Unhappy with Pro-Gay Policies: WATCH

Earlier this week I posted about the Starbucks shareholder meeting at which CEO Howard Schultz told shareholder Tom Strobhar to sell his shares if he's disappointed with the company's support for marriage equality.

Now here's video of some of Schultz's remarks. Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

What Strobhar said as reported by KPLU: “In the first fill quarter after this boycott was announced, our sales and our earrings — shall we say politely — were a bit disappointing.”

Schultz responded by saying not every decision the company makes is an economic one: "The lens we use to make decisions is the lens of our people. We want to embrace diversity...If you feel, respectfully, that you can get a higher return than the 38 percent you got last year, it’s a free country. You can sell your shares of Starbucks and buy shares in another company. Thank you very much."

As you can see by the thunderous cheering and applause, shareholders were overwhelmingly on Schultz's side of the issue.