SAN FRANCISCO -- Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of San Francisco Tuesday night for a rally and march that followed the state Supreme Court's ruling upholding Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, an event organizer said.

Molly McKay, a spokeswoman for Marriage Equality USA, estimated that several thousand people took part in the event in which participants gathered around City Hall at about 5 p.m. before marching down Market Street to the Martin Luther King Jr. monument at Yerba Buena Gardens for a rally.

She said the event remained mostly peaceful and didn't have a "component of civil disobedience" like demonstrations earlier in the day.

"First and foremost, we turned up the level of urgency around marriage equality," McKay said of the march and rally.

At around 7 p.m., the protestors faced off with police after officers arrested a woman demonstrator for allegedly being drunk in public. Otherwise there were no reported altercations between activists and police in the evening.

She said the event at Yerba Buena Gardens started to end at about 9 p.m., but that a large group of people marched away toward the Castro neighborhood.

San Francisco police Sgt. Lyn Tomioka said as of 9 p.m., no arrests were made in connection with the evening demonstration.

However, earlier Tuesday some 175 people were arrested for being outside a crosswalk and failing to obey an officer in acts of civil disobedience, police and event organizers said. Tomioka said she was not aware of any injuries or acts of vandalism related to the protest.

"Today, even though it seems like a really high number (of arrests), it was a peaceful demonstration," Tomioka said.

Eventually, supporters of same-sex marriage rights gathered in the Castro District. The giant rainbow flag at the corner of Market and Castro Streets was flying at half staff, with a black banner attached above.

In front of the Castro Theater there was a long line of people, many with children awaiting a special showing of the latest Disney/Pixar film 'Up.'

Outside the theater, one man let his feelings be known about same sex marriage, carrying a sign calling for the right to marry the one you love, no matter who it is.

People in line, many from outside the Castro District, had mixed emotions about the ruling.

"I was raised that it should only be a man and a woman. But I have a lot of gay friends so you know, I don't have anything against them or anything," said San Francisco resident Ringo Johnson.

Pamela Vary of Mill Valley said she preaches tolerance. "I teach my children that as long as people are good to each other then everything should be equal."

A tourist couple from Texas happened by and hadn't heard about the California Supreme Court ruling.

James Adams of Arlington, Texas seemed open to the idea of same-sex marriage. "I believe in personal freedom as long as you're not hurting anyone else, you have a right to do what you want to do."

Barbara Adams said that Texas hasn't had the debate yet, and it will probably be a while before it does.

Another tourist, from the Netherlands, said he found San Francisco is the closest thing to Europe in America, and he's seen quite of bit of this country on this trip.

"We've been road tripping down from Chicago all the way down here. Well, San Francisco is a big change from the rest of America, absolutely."

The state Supreme Court by a 6-1 vote Tuesday upheld Proposition 8, passed by California voters in November. The initiative was approved by 52 percent of voters as an amendment to the state Constitution.

In its ruling, the court rejected three lawsuits in which same-sex couples and local governments claimed the measure could not be passed simply as an initiative because it was a constitutional revision rather than an amendment.

But same-sex marriage will continue to exist in California because the court said unanimously that 18,000 previously performed gay and lesbian marriages will still be recognized.