Antigay senator's son marries male partner

On Tuesday the son of California's most prominent opponent of gay marriage exchanged vows with his longtime boyfriend. David J. Knight, 42, the son of state senator William J. "Pete" Knight, married his partner of 10 years, Joseph J. Lazzaro, 39, during a brief ceremony at San Francisco City Hall presided over by a volunteer marriage commissioner. The couple, who live in Baltimore, were accompanied by a friend but no family members. The elder Knight is a Republican senator from Palmdale who authored a successful 2000 ballot initiative that states that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized as valid in California. More recently, a nonprofit group the senator leads, the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund, has spearheaded one of the ongoing lawsuits seeking to block San Francisco authorities from issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. "I love my son, but we continue to disagree on this issue, and because this is a personal family matter, I do not wish to respond," Senator Knight said in a statement released by his office Tuesday night. Knight added that he continues to believe San Francisco marriages are illegal and unethical.