TPM: San Diego's GOP mayor flips on gay marriage... after his daughter comes out

[Bucky]

TPM showing up why "compassionate conservative" is an oxymoron.

...With that in mind, when council members voted 5 to 3 recently on a resolution endorsing gay marriage, most expected the mayor to reject the measure. But then a funny thing happened -- Sanders' daughter told him she's gay. Suddenly, the mayor had a far more progressive take on the subject.

A tearful Mayor Jerry Sanders made a dramatic shift yesterday, explaining that he can no longer oppose same-sex marriages because he does not want to deny justice to people like his daughter, who is a lesbian.

Joined at a late afternoon news conference by his wife, Rana Sampson, the San Diego mayor announced he will back a City Council decision to support same-sex marriage before the state Supreme Court, where California's ban on it awaits review.

"I decided to lead with my heart, which is probably obvious at the moment," said Sanders, moments before he revealed his daughter's sexual orientation.

I think there's a pattern here for conservatives and their social attitudes. They don't mind restrictions on free speech, until they have something provocative to say. They want to restrict reproductive rights, until someone close to them has an unwanted pregnancy. They want to break down the church-state wall, until they feel like their faith is in the minority. They want to treat embryos as people, until they suffer from an ailment that could benefit from stem-cell research.

And they balk at the idea of equal rights for gay people, until it's their daughter who is looking for equality.

I remember Michael Moore making the same point four years ago in "Stupid White Men". Of course Moore being Moore, he then concluded that the humanitarian thing to do was pray for more GOP congressmen's children to get AIDS and their wives to contract breast cancer.

[tekisui]

1. I found his change in opinion and his press conference

moving. I had a sense of pride and hope that more can follow his example.

[BlooInBloo]

2. (shrug) I'll settle for getting the right result at the moment, regardless...

... of how cravenly selfish it's arrived at.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. It didn't happen to Dick and Lynne Cheney, though.

They have a gay daughter and they still don't want her to be able to marry her partner.

[Booster]

4. That's because her partner will expect to get her hands on Dick's

Halliburton stock.:sarcasm:

[David__77]

5. I'm unimpressed.

So, like a truly selfish opportunist, he makes his self-interest his criterion for "morality." It's nice that he made a change to the correct position, but his reasoning is terrible.

[Bucky]

6. My other thought is this...

How many of his Republican friends will also drop their antagonism toward gays based on their buddy the mayor's sudden reversal? I'm as cynical as you, but this could be part of the natural social evolution going on that will eventually wipe out opposition to gay marriage.

This reminds me of what Edwards said, "I'm not there yet."

Right, yet. Things like this is what it will take to get more people there.