Members of the Ku Klux Klan will march in Austin next week to drum up support for Proposition 2 -- which would ban gay marriage in the Texas Constitution.

KVUE News

Groups who keep track of hate crimes say Klan activity is on the rise in Texas.

KVUE News analyzed Klan activity in the Austin area to see if there is more or less. It's not clear how many Klan members plan to be at city hall November 5.

It is clear to groups who keep track of hate crimes that Klan activity is on the rise in Texas, but, despite that rise in activity, the group continues to keep a low profile.

A KKK rally in Boerne pitted protestors against Klansmen in 1997, but the history of hate doesn't end there.

Karen Riles specializes in African-American history at the Austin History Center. She showed KVUE items from the center's secret societies file.

"In the 1920's there was visible activity of the Ku Klux Klan in Austin," Riles said. "It was advertising the fact that they'd be at the Texas State Fair on Wednesday October 24, but on the reverse side it's an application for non-Klan members people who would like to join the Klan."

In the 1980's, the Klan was more visible than ever in Austin with a series of protests, but where are they now?

Gary Bledsoe of the Texas NAACP says the Klan in Texas is less overt and becoming more covert.

"Texas is one of the states that has the most Klan or hate group activity," Bledsoe said. "There are plans to infiltrate churches, to bastardize scripture, to galvanize people against minorities by using religion where the Klan members are being sent. I have a Klan informant who let me know that."

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Klan watch group, Texas has 40 KKK chapters. That makes Texas one top 5 Klan active states in the country. Six of those chapters are in Austin.

In 2001, two Williamson county deputies were fired for their alleged involvement in the Klan.

A few years later, the National Alliance put out what some say where racist fliers in Austin neighborhoods.

Wayne Krause, with the Texas Civil Rights Project, says the Klan's plans to support a ban on gay marriage may have a silver lining for those against Proposition 2.

"I think just from our personal experience we've seen more appearances by the Klan out there," Krause said. "I think that folks out there who really think that maybe intolerance of gay marriage is really the right thing to do might realize that when you're with the Klan you are not right."

No one was available to speak on camera, but a representative with the Imperial Klans of America speaking for the American White Knights says in a statement

"We believe that as Christians we have an obligation under god to take a stand against homosexuality. Homosexuality is a sin and an abomination to God and goes against our Lord's plans for the human race."

The Klan rally is scheduled for Saturday November 5.