Mayor Jerry
Sanders abruptly reversed his public opposition to marriage
for same-sex partners and revealed that his adult daughter
is a lesbian.
Sanders on
Wednesday signed a city council resolution supporting a
challenge to California's same-sex marriage ban. He
previously promised to veto it.
The Republican
mayor said he could no longer back the position he took
during his election campaign two years ago, when he said he
favored civil unions but not full marriage rights for
gay and lesbian couples.
He fought back
tears as he said he wanted his adult daughter, Lisa, and
other gay people he knows to have their relationships
protected equally under state laws.
''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,'' Sanders said.
Lisa Sanders was
unavailable for comment, according to the mayor's
spokesman, Fred Sainz. He said she had told her parents four
years ago that she is a lesbian and is currently in a
committed relationship, but her orientation wasn't
public until her father's speech.
The mayor, a
former police chief who is up for reelection next year,
acknowledged that many voters who supported his earlier
stance might disagree with his shift but said he had
to do what he believed was right.
In 2000, 62% of
San Diego voters endorsed a statewide measure to restrict
marriage to a union between a man and woman.
The city council
voted Tuesday 5-3 in favor of joining other
California cities to back a lawsuit pending before the
California supreme court attempting to overturn the
same-sex marriage ban. (Allison Hoffman, AP)