Topeka ? Holding signs and chanting, “Straight, gay, it’s all OK,” more than 100 students rallied Sunday near the Statehouse against a proposed state ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions for gay couples.

Only traditionally married couples would be entitled to benefits associated with marriage under a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution. The House expects to vote on it Wednesday, and supporters hope the measure will go on the ballot April 5.

Aishlinn O’Connor, a 15-year-old high school sophomore from Prairie Village, said she organized the rally because she believes the amendment goes against an American tradition of expanding civil rights.

Most participants were college and high school students, many from the Kansas City metropolitan area.

They stood on opposite sides of the street between the Statehouse and the Kansas Judicial Center, urging motorists to honk in support and cheering loudly when drivers did. They also chanted, “This is what democracy looks like.”

The Rev. Terry Fox, senior pastor of Wichita’s Immanuel Baptist Church, said he was not surprised students were rallying against the proposal. He said in public schools, “They’re told to accept almost anything.”

“They’ve been brainwashed,” he said, adding about the rally, “This ought to serve as a real wake-up call for conservatives.”