Now he can look them in the face
San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders’ same-sex marriage reversal
CalCatholic.com
September 22, 2007

On Sept. 20, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders announced to the media that he had changed his mind and would support the filing by the city of a friend of the court brief supporting same-sex marriage in a case now before the state Supreme Court. Two days earlier, Sanders had pledged to veto the San Diego city council’s 5-3 vote in favor of filing the brief. Sanders, a Republican, cited his lesbian daughter as the principal factor in causing him to change his mind.

Sanders’ announcement came as a surprise, since it was not widely known that Lisa Sanders of North Park is a lesbian. Neither she nor her sister, Jamie, were at the news conference or available for comment afterwards.

The city council deadlocked 4-4 on Sept. 4 on whether to file the brief. Councilwoman Donna Frye, who had opposed the measure, said she voted against it because the public had not had enough time to comment on the proposal. Lesbian Councilwoman Toni Atkins then had the measure placed on the agenda for reconsideration by the council on Sept. 18, just one day before the kickoff of Sanders’ race for re-election.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s last report showed nearly 62,000 same-sex households in San Diego.

The state Supreme Court case will consider the constitutionality of Proposition 22 – supported by 61% of California’s voters in 2000 -- that bars the state from acknowledging same-sex marriages. Christian activist James Hartline has said that San Diego voters supported the measure with a 62.7% majority.

Standing next to his wife, Rana Sampson, a tearful Sanders said, "I have close family members and friends who are members of the gay and lesbian community. These folks include my daughter Lisa and her partner, as well as members of my personal staff.

"In the end, I could not look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationships, their very lives, were any less meaningful than the marriage that I share with my wife Rana."

Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for Children and Families, said he was disappointed by Sanders’ decision. “Mayor Sanders is rejecting the voters of San Diego who said that marriage is only for a man and a woman,” said Thomasson. “He is essentially saying that he has lied to the voters up until now and is engaging in nepotism, catering to his family, while trashing the people of San Diego’s vote on marriage. Along with Councilman Jim Madaffer, he has put a sword through the heart of every pro-family voter who supported them for public office. How dare they go against the vote of the people and work to destroy the natural definition of marriage, which the people, who are the government, so faithfully upheld just a few years ago.”