Prop 8 trial, Day 6: San Diego mayor takes the stand

The second week of the federal Prop 8 trial opened with often tearful testimony from Republican San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders as he recounted why he changed his mind to support marriage for gays and lesbians in 2007 after he made his opposition to it part of his first successful run for office.

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera played a video of the press conference Sanders held to announce his change of heart. The former San Diego police chief recounted the last minute reconsiderations that spurred him to endorse marriage for same-sex couples.

"I came to the conclusion that night I was prejudiced," Sanders told the court. "I was extremely emotional because of the decision I made. I felt I had come very close to making a bad decision.The night before the press conference, I invited a number of people from the gay and lesbian community. I intended to give them the courtesy to tell them I intended to veto this. I thought they would accept civil unions. I was shocked at the depth of the emotion of the comments they made."

Sanders has two daughters from a previous marriage: Jamie, whom he said was straight, and Lisa, who is lesbian. He said they had worked with him on his campaign "every step of the way" and they understood his position on civil unions at the time was the one that as a Republican running in San Diego at the time was "politically palatable on the basis of the support that I had."

But Sanders said political considerations were swept away in his evening meeting with local LGBT community leaders.

"This was not a night of politics," Sanders said. "This was a night where they showed the depth of their hurt."

Before Herrera began to question Sanders, the judge chastised the city attorney's conduct during taped depositions in the case. He urged him to speak to correct how one of the attorneys made objections, a request he repeated at the close of Sanders' re-direct.

Sanders began his career with the San Diego Police Department as a patrolman in 1973, rising to police chief in 1993.

"I was a police officer for 26 years and during that time I had seen what could happen to gays and lesbians," he said.

Sanders spoke of watching a "good police sergeant, a good police officer" who was "literally driven out."

"I have also through the years seen violence against gay people simply because they were gay," he said. "I had seen a lot of that kind of thing and heard the slurs people would say. I know how easy it is to discriminate against people when you hear slurs from people in the department."

He said while his daughter Lisa was growing up she "was basically my shadow."

"We had a very strong relationship," Sanders said as he further recalled how she came out to him. "Lisa called me her sophomore year in college and said she wanted to come home and talk with us about something. She sat down with us and told us she was a lesbian and she was in a lesbian relationship. I felt overwhelming love. I realized how difficult that was for her. I realized how difficult it was to tell your parents you were a lesbian. I told her we would be there to help her every step of the way."

He characterized his original campaign opposition supporting civil unions as an acceptable substitute for marriage for gays and lesbians as a rational political choice enabled by unconscious prejudice.

"To put it in context, I was running at a very difficult time in San Diego history," Sanders said. "I felt at the time it was not something I could deal with," he said.

In Sept. 2007 the San Diego City Council passed a motion to file a amicus brief in the ongoing court battle to validate marriages of gays and lesbians before Prop 8 passed a year later.

"I had to make the decision whether to veto the motion," Sanders recalled.

What followed was his meeting with community leaders, a late night change of heart, and a press conference that was the buzz of YouTube when it was made.

"For three decades, I have worked to bring enlightenment, justice and equality to all parts of our community," Sanders said. "I just cannot bring myself to tell an entire segment of our community they are less important or less deserving for the right and responsibilities of marriage simply because of their orientation. Three years ago I believed civil unions were a fair alternative. But the concept of a separate but equal institution is something I cannot support."

He elaborated on his position in his testimony on Tuesday.

"I know it is difficult when you are in a relationship and you can't talk about it," he said. "If government tolerates discrimination against anyone for any reason, it becomes an excuse for individuals to discriminate. The fact that I still believed that civil unions were equal to marriage really shook me. It simply meant I hadn't understood the issue clearly enough."

He said Lisa sent him a text message that she and her partner Megan had "taken care of the 'DP.' I asked, 'What the heck is a DP?'"

He said he heard no words of congratulations when they legally partnered, but did hear them when she called him in 2009 to tell him they had gotten married in Vermont.

"It made me feel pretty bad that they had to go across to get married without family and friends," Sanders said.

On cross examination Prop 8 proponents continued with the themes they have been working to establish throughout the plaintiffs' case: expanded rights means gays no longer suffer significant discrimination and people can rationally conclude that the word marriage should not be applied to same-sex unions without being an expression of hatred. They cited San Diego political leaders and officials who are out and Sanders own successful reelection after his change in stance.

"I don't believe I communicated hatred, but in retrospect I feel my belief was grounded in prejudice," he responded.

On redirect examination, sanders said he though it was "easier to make a political decision against the LGBT community" in San Diego, his fellow Republicans considered withdrawing their party's endorsement and not many Republicans came out to help him kick off his campaign."

Asked about the political clout of the local Log Cabin Republicans, he said he went to one meeting to speak with them and "there were four members."

"I would say they don't have any influence in the San Diego Republican Party," he said.