San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders stars in
a new ad calling on Republicans to support gay marriage.
In 2007, Sanders held an emotional
press conference in which he tearfully reversed his opposition to
marriage equality, telling reporters, “I have close family members
and friends who are members of the gay and lesbian community. Those
folks include my daughter Lisa.”
In the 30-second ad released Friday,
Sanders says he came out for marriage equality for two reasons:
family and freedom.
“As a Republican I believe in
conservative values like responsibility and limited government,”
Sanders says in the spot. “Our party is changing on this issue
thanks to leaders like Dick and Lynne Cheney, Laura Bush, Ted Olson
and Cindy McCain.”
“Marriage strengthens families and we
need more of that in this country, not less,” he adds. (The video
is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
The ad, produced by gay rights groups
Freedom to Marry and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), comes just days
after Republicans
meeting in Tampa approved language opposing such unions in the 2012
Republican Platform, which is expected to be ratified at the
party's convention next week.
Sanders
is a member of the Freedom to Marry group Mayors for the Freedom to
Marry.