Last night, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people gathered for a protest outside the Church of Latter Day Saints' Manhattan Mormon Temple and march down Broadway to Columbus Circle.

The planned and peaceful event shut down many streets, drew many cops to the area as the march winded through streets with spirited chants.

Earlier on Wednesday and not too far from New York City, gay marriage legally began in Connecticut to which one Gothamist commenter asked "Shouldn't New Yorkers be celebrating what happened in Connecticut today rather than protesting something in a state we have nothing to do with? Not only that, but NY itself will likely legalize gay marriage soon."

Earlier this summer, New York Governor Paterson issued a memo telling all state agencies to recognize legally performed, out-of-state same-sex marriages as valid marriages even though the state does not license or perform said marriages. The memo was based on a February 2008 Appellate Court ruling that said gay marriages "should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union."

Update: Towleroad is reporting crowd estimate from 7-10,000, contrary to AP reports.

Gothamist Editor Jen Chung and LAist Editor Zach Behrens contributed to this post | Photograph by Amanda Spurlock via Gothamist