(Nov. 16) — Comedian Wanda Sykes is openly gay, but was content to keep discussions of her sexual orientation private - until Proposition 8 passed in California. Sykes surprised organizers of a Las Vegas rally for gay rights with an unscheduled appearance on Saturday, and told the crowd, “You know, I don’t really talk about my sexual orientation… I was just living my life, not necessarily in the closet, but I was living my life. Everybody that knows me personally they know I’m gay. But that’s the way people should be able to live their lives.”

She explained that the passage of Prop 8 felt like an attack on her lifestyle. “Now, I gotta get in their face,” she said. “I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a black woman, and I’m proud to be gay.”

Stars React to Proposition 8

Madonna: “I am very sad to hear we didn’t win Proposition 8. But we will not give up the fight. No, we will not. Never! If we got an African-American in the White House, we can have gay marriages.”

C Flanigan, FilmMagic

Christina Aguilera: “I think it is discrimination and I don’t understand how people can be so closed-minded and so judgmental. We chose an African-American president, and it means so much … Why you would put so much money behind something stopping from people loving each other and bonding together?”

Jordan Strauss, WireImage

Samantha Ronson: “I guess people care more about farm animals than they do their fellow man, that’s really sad to me… I just think it’s frightening that people show more compassion for tomorrow’s dinner than for the chef.”

Jason Kempin, Wire Image

Ellen Degeneres: “Here we just had a giant step toward equality and then on the very next day, we took a giant step away. I believe one day a ‘ban on gay marriage’ will sound totally ridiculous. In the meantime, I will continue to speak out for equality for all of us.”

Jason LaVeris, FilmMagic

George Clooney: “At some point in our lifetime, gay marriage won’t be an issue, and everyone who stood against this civil right will look as outdated as George Wallace standing on the school steps keeping James Hood from entering the University of Alabama because he was black.”

Dominique Charriau, Wire Image

Drew Barrymore: “People who I love are being affected by this - people who have defined who I am. This can not happen. We have to change this. This is so wrong. With all my heart I could not feel more passionate about this.”

Michael Loccisano, FilmMagic

Harvey Fierstein: “We great Americans reached out and willfully put our name to language that denies an entire minority group their equal rights… Florida and California have now made it legal for gay men and lesbians to marry as long as we don’t marry our partners. How much sense does that make?”

Richard Drew, AP

Melissa Etheridge: “[My wife] and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen… sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.”

Alberto E. Rodriguez, Getty Images

The proposition to adopt a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage - overturning the earlier state Supreme Court decision giving gay couples the right to wed - passed with approval by 52% of California voters. Not surprisingly, a number of gay and straight celebrities are airing their disappointment.

George Clooney told E!’s Ted Casablanca, “At some point in our lifetime, gay marriage won’t be an issue, and everyone who stood against this civil right will look as outdated as George Wallace standing on the school steps keeping James Hood from entering the University of Alabama because he was black.”

Openly gay talk show host Ellen Degeneres, who recently married her partner Portia de Rossi, made a statement on her show’s website, reading, “This morning, when it was clear that Proposition 8 had passed in California, I can’t explain the feeling I had. I was saddened beyond belief. Here we just had a giant step toward equality and then on the very next day, we took a giant step away. I believe one day a ‘ban on gay marriage’ will sound totally ridiculous. In the meantime, I will continue to speak out for equality for all of us.”

Openly Gay Celebs

Singer Clay Aiken came out in an interview with PEOPLE.

PEOPLE.com

Actor Neil Patrick Harris

Out

Music legend Elton John

Michelly Rall, Wire Image

Actor Sir Ian McKellen (right)

Ron Galella, Wire Image

Actresses Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres

Neilson Barnard, Getty Images

Actor and stage star Nathan Lane

Jason Kempin, Wire Image

Singer Melissa Etheridge

Jeffrey Mayer, Wire Image

Actress and host Rosie O’Donnell (right)

M. Von Holden, Wire Image

Singer George Michael

Jon Furniss, Wire Image

Actress Cynthia Nixon (right)

Jemal Countess, Wire Image

Last week, Lindsay Lohan’s girlfriend Sam Ronson expressed sadness that California voters approved an animal-rights initiative while rejecting the opportunity to uphold gay rights. She blogged about her anger on MySpace, writing, “I guess people care more about farm animals than they do their fellow man, that’s really sad to me… I just think it’s frightening that people show more compassion for tomorrow’s dinner than for the chef.”

A blog post by Melissa Etheridge on The Daily Beast joked that the gay population of California should no longer have to pay taxes without equal rights to marriage. “[My wife] and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen. I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.”

Gay and straight celebs showed up to a protest rally in West Hollywood Wednesday night. Among the stars in attendance were Ricki Lake, Rose McGowan and Wanda Sykes.