San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders on Marriage Equality – VIDEO

***FULL TRANSCRIPT OF JERRY SANDERS REMARKS AT EVE OF JUSTICE***

"We're on the eve of a momentous occasion, and that's when the Supreme Court has the opportunity … to do the right thing for everybody in California. … Many of us have worked for years and years and years to bring justice and enlightenment and equality to every community in San Diego. This battle is obviously one that's personal to each of you. It is personal to me. It's personal to my family. And I think it should be personal to everybody in California. Because when one group starts taking rights away from other groups, it could happen to any group.

"Defending Proposition 8 threatens the liberties guaranteed by our state constitution. It undermines the fundamental rights that we stand for, and it's been a misuse in the worst way of the initiative process. Proposition 8 puts all minority groups at risk, not just the LGBT community. I don't support separate-but-equal institutions. We're all worthy of the same rights and the same responsibilities, and especially the rights and responsibility that marriage brings. I believe times have changed. … I think we saw a tremendous change in people's thinking, and I think we'll continue to see that change as people understand that members of their family, coworkers, friends represent every community in our community.

"And I think that's when we start lending our voice to causes — when we know people, and we feel strongly about it.I want to thank each of you for your dedication and I see you all over the city. I see you marching. I see you talking to people and lobbying. I see you doing things that make all of us proud as we go down this road to make sure that everybody is treated equally in the state of California. Now I wanna say…these are always hard ones for me. If it didn't involve my daughter and her partner, they wouldn't be hard things, right? They became engaged to get married last week. And their families are tremendously proud of them. We're tremendously excited to see two people who are committed to each other and we know will be excellent partners in their future. So this becomes an even more important issue for our family, but it's an important issue for each and every one of you as we move forward. And we should accept nothing more than equal rights under the law. Thank you very much."

(thanks to Pam for some of this)