Roughly 3,000 people on Saturday rallied in support of a proposed civil unions bill in Peru.

Among those marching through the streets of Lima was the bill's sponsor, Congressman Carlos Bruce.

“This march is part of human diversity and our constitution allows this diversity to exist,” Bruce is quoted as saying by La Republica. “Now, what happens is that the law does not allow two people of the same sex to join with all the protection of the state.”

Maria Cristian Carnero, president of Association of Families for Sexual Diversity (Asociacion de Familias por la Diversidad Sexual), a group dedicated to supporting parents with gay children, said that the legislation was needed because currently gay couples are granted no recognition.

Religious leaders opposed to gay rights have called for a referendum on the issue.

“If there is an interest to get these issues, there should be a referendum,” Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, also the archbishop of Lima, said last week on a morning radio program. “The people should be consulted.”

The Peruvian Episcopal Conference agreed, saying that the unions of gay couples “go against the natural order, distort the true identity of the family, contradict the purpose of marriage, violate the human dignity of all Peruvians, threaten the healthy orientation of children, and damage the fundamentals of our society, which aspires to an integral human development.”