Many years ago when I first heard about the issue of gay/lesbian marriage, my initial reaction was “Big deal – there are more important issues
around.”  My second reaction was “Marriage
has traditionally been between a man and a woman, so why mess with it? Civil
unions are just fine. Go away.” (My first reactions to a new issue tend to be
conservative.)

When the issue would not go away my third conclusion, arrived at much more slowly, was “Marriage today is primarily about love and
commitment.  Who am I or anybody
else to get in the way of two people who want to live their lives together?” 

Interestingly, statistics indicate those
parts of the country most opposed to gay marriage also have the most trouble
staying married.  It might seem that those parts of the country most opposed to marriage between gays or lesbians have the greatest difficulty with practicing love?   Maybe they should
look at the beam in their own eye… 

So it was with sympathy and admiration that I read today how
Republican Jerry Sanders, former cop and mayor of San Diego, account of how he came to reverse
his thinking and support gay marriage. 
It’s a good read. His press conference statement is on youtube, and is a good and deeply moving example of a man with genuine integrity and courage.  We need more like him.