(Photo: AP Images / Denis Poroy)Jerry Sanders, left, is sworn in as mayor of San Diego by Superior Court Judge Michael Smith, right, as Sanders' daughter, Lisa Sanders, and City Councilman Scott Peters, background left, look on in this Monday, Dec. 5, 2005 file photo, at City Hall in San Diego. Sanders abruptly reversed his public opposition to same-sex marriage Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007 after revealing his adult daughter Lisa is gay.
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The mayor of San Diego said Wednesday that he has changed his stance on same-sex “marriages” after revealing that his adult daughter is a lesbian.
Although he previously said he would veto a city council resolution supporting a legal fight to overturn California's prohibition on same-sex “marriage,” Mayor Jerry Sanders told reporters that he could no longer support the position he took during his mayoral campaign two years ago and in the end signed the resolution.
"Two years ago, I believed that civil unions were a fair alternative," he said at a news conference.
Sanders' spokesman, Fred Sainz, had earlier informed the press that the mayor prefers civil unions – which offer some, but not all of the legal privileges found in marriages – over same-sex “marriages.”
"Those beliefs, in my case, have since changed,” the Republican mayor said Wednesday.
Sanders, who is up for re-election next year, acknowledged that many voters who supported his earlier stance may disagree, but he said he had to do what he believed was right.
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According to the mayor’s spokesman, Sanders’ daughter Lisa told her parents four years ago that she is a lesbian and is in a committed relationship.
But her orientation wasn't public until her father's speech, Sainz said.
The announcement came one day after San Diego’s city council voted 5-3 to join other California cities in stating support for same-sex “marriage” in a case to be decided by the state Supreme Court. The court is considering whether California's ban on same-sex "marriage" is unconstitutional.
Although a 4-4 vote on the issue two weeks ago had killed the measure, Councilwoman Toni Atkins had called for another chance, arguing that state residents should be treated equally regardless of their sexual orientations.
What tipped the scale on Tuesday was the vote by Donna Frye, one of the panels’ most liberal members. Frye had voted against the motion on Sept. 4 because she felt the public had not been given adequate opportunity to comment.
“I just learned about this issue when I picked up the city council docket on Wednesday, right before the Labor Day holiday,” Frye had said, according to the California Catholic Daily. “I think it’s a very significant issue, and I think it’s a very important issue, and I think that the public has a right to have their voices heard, whether it’s for it or against it.”
As the mayor’s spokesman had noted, 62 percent of city voters had backed Proposition 22, the statewide measure that bars California from acknowledging same-sex "marriages" performed in other states.
After the council’s three-hour debate, however, Frye switched sides, placing San Diego en route to joining Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Jose and Santa Cruz, which have already expressed their support for same-sex “marriages.”
