Council votes to join over Mayor’s objections

by Brian Leubitz

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed was never really a traditional Democrat. He never really had a strong labor base, and was never particularly well connected to the LGBT community.  His objection to joining the Mayors for Marriage Equality campaign gave rise to much nashing of teeth in the Bay Area’s largest city.

However, the city council found a better way to put their city on record in support of the cause of marriage equality.

But this week Councilman Ash Kalra found an appropriate way to show support for equal marriage rights on behalf of San Jose, whose voters rejected Proposition 8 in 2008 when it passed statewide. With Councilmen Don Rocha, Kansen Chu and Xavier Campos, Kalra proposed that San Jose join in San Francisco’s argument to the United States Supreme Court that the same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional.

The motion passed by a surprising 9-1. Newly-seated District 10 Councilman Johnny Khamis did not vote, raising eyebrows when he left the meeting without explanation before the discussion. The lone no vote was Reed. So that would mean — yes, it’s true: Conservative Republican Pete Constant, who supported Proposition 8 and rarely sees eye to eye with Kalra on anything, concurred in the motion.(SJ Merc)

Constant is hardly a progressive, but somehow he found it within himself to support the right for loving couples to married, under civil law. Progress…