The LDS Church issued a statement just hours before the protest, calling it "disturbing" that the church "is being singled out for speaking up as part of its democratic right in a free election."

"While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process," the church statement reads.

Bishop William Weigand, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, Calif., and former bishop of the Dioceses of Salt Lake City, lent his support to the LDS Church in a statement Friday.

"Catholics stand in solidarity with our Mormon brothers and sisters in support of traditional marriage — the union of one man and one woman — that has been the major building block of Western civilization for millennia," Weigand said in the statement.

"The ProtectMarriage coalition, which led the successful campaign to pass Proposition 8, was an historic alliance of people from every faith and ethnicity. LDS were included — but so were Catholics and Jews, Evangelicals and Orthodox, African-Americans and Latinos, Asians and Anglos."

Weigand called the "bigoted attacks on Mormons" for their part in the coalition "shameful."

"I call upon the supporters of same-sex marriage to live by their own words and to refrain from discrimination against religion and to exercise tolerance for those who differ from them," he said. "I call upon them to accept the will of the people of California in the passage of Proposition 8."

Thousands of gay-marriage supporters have demonstrated outside the LDS Church's Los Angeles Temple since the election. The Salt Lake Temple was visible from the site of Friday's rally, which included a march around the two city blocks surrounding Temple Square and the Church Office Building. Protesters marched around the blocks twice, gathering on street corners and open areas to continue the rally until about 8:30 p.m.

"The LDS Church sees this as a moral issue," said David LeCheminant, holding a sign reading, "Proposition h8." "I want (church leaders) to ask themselves, 'How is it moral to strip hundreds of people — dozens of my friends — of their marriages, their partnerships and their families?'"

A small group of LDS Church members gathered a block away from the park to support California voters' approval of Proposition 8. The friction between the two groups was limited to back-and-forth chants about their differing political views.

Elsewhere, five church members stood outside the north entrance to Temple Square singing hymns and peacefully discussing their beliefs with marching protesters.