NEW YORK -- Hundreds of New Yorkers took part in a wedding march across the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday.

The demonstration was in support of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples and follows hearings earlier this week in New York state’s highest court on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage.

Supporters say marriage would give them the same rights and protections granted to heterosexual couples, such as those for Social Security, hospital visitation, co-parenting and the estate tax.

In his weekly radio address Saturday, President George W. Bush urged the Senate to pass a proposed constitutional amendment supporting only heterosexual marriage when it debates the measure this week.

Parade Stone, a fifth-grader from Fort Greene, N.J., told the crowd that people supporting a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage are bullies who "are filled with fear, ignorance and hatred." The 11-year-old has two godfathers and a godmother who are gay.

Organizers of the New York City march said they had hoped thousands of people would participate. The bad weather kept attendance to less than 400, they said.