Fred Sainz, a spokesman and close adviser to Mayor Jerry Sanders, has advocated for same-sex marriage before. He even acknowledges that he defected from the Republican Party because of its frequent stances against same-sex rights.
In 2004, he penned a letter to the editor in The San Diego Union-Tribune that included this passage:
The gay community is no different from the straight community: We are a patchwork of people from all backgrounds and beliefs. It would be wrong to rush any aspect of our community back into the closet simply because of some misguided, antiquated notion of what is acceptable and/or marketable. We don’t have rights simply because America might have grown to like some of us. We want basic human rights like the ability to marry, because it’s the right and just thing to do. It’s the American thing to do.
Sanders, however, has vowed to veto the legal brief supporting same-sex marriage, should the council approve it this afternoon.
So I asked Sainz, who lives with a same-sex partner: How do you feel about your boss’s opposition?
“I knew his position well before I signed up for the job,” Sainz said, referring to the mayor’s statements on the 2005 campaign trail. “The mayor has always been supportive of domestic partnerships.”
Sainz continued: “The gay community is not unanimously in support of gay marriage. Civil unions and domestic partnerships are often seen as a fair and reasonable alternative to what is a very divisive subject.”