Mayor Jerry Sanders changed course Wednesday, announcing he would sign the resolution to approve the San Diego City Council’s 5-3 vote to become a friend of the court in an appeal of a same-sex marriage license ban to the California Supreme Court.

The mayor, who Tuesday pledged to veto the council’s vote, explained his position at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

“I have decided to lead with my heart – to do what I think is right – and to take a stand on behalf of equality and social justice,” he said. “The right thing for me to do is sign this resolution. … The concept of a ‘separate but equal’ institution is not something that I can support.”

During Sanders’ mayoral campaign, he said he did not support same-sex marriage. Instead, he supported civil unions and domestic partnership.

“I have close family members and friends who are members of the gay and lesbian community,” Sanders said. “These folks include my daughter Lisa and her partner, as well as members of my personal staff. I want for them the same thing that we want for all our loved ones – for each of them to find a mate whom they love deeply and who loves them back; someone with whom they can grow old together and share life’s wondrous adventures. And I want their relationships to be protected equally under the law.

“In the end, I could not look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationships – their very lives – were any less meaningful than the marriage I share with my wife Rana.”

District 3 Councilmember Toni Atkins, who sponsored the item, praised Sanders Wednesday.

“Today Mayor Sanders acted with courage, fairness, and integrity in supporting the Council’s action to put California’s second largest city on record in support of equality for same-sex couples,” she said, in a statement. “Thousands of San Diego couples and their families, as well as every city resident who rejects discrimination, can be proud of our city and its mayor. When we look back on this day 50 years from now, when I am confident the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community will have achieved full equality throughout the nation, history will have recorded who stood on the side of what is right and fair and who allowed fear of political consequences to stop them from affirming the worth of their fellow human beings. Mayor Sanders…will be remembered as being among those who led us toward a better, more just, society.”

After hours of testimony from both sides, the San Diego City Council voted 5-3 Tuesday to add the city’s name to the list of other cities that filed a friend-of-the-court brief to the California Supreme Court in an appeal of the ban on marriage licenses for same-sex couples in San Francisco.

Councilmember Donna Frye switched her vote Tuesday from her Sept. 4 vote, when she voted against it, and she seconded the motion by District 3 Councilmember Toni Atkins. Councilmembers Scott Peters, Jim Madaffer, and Ben Hueso also voted in favor, while Councilmembers Kevin Faulconer, Tony Young, and Brian Maienschein voted against. Faulconer, Young and Maienschein also voted against filing the brief on Sept. 4. They didn’t give a reason for their vote.

The deadline to add the city’s name to the appeal is Sept. 26.

Councilmembers and the public voiced their views on the issue.

“The right to marry the person of your choosing is a fundamental civil right,” Atkins said.

“I have a lot of friends on both sides. I’ve done a great deal of thinking...and soul searching,” said Hueso before voting in favor.

Ex-gay activist James Hartline held a “shake the city” prayer rally before the vote outside City Hall. Hartline said he would urge Sanders to veto the action.

More than 350 people showed up to either testify or watch the proceedings, and every seat was filled, with an overflow crowd into other 12th floor rooms. Council President Peters said he would not allow people who spoke on Sept. 4 to again address the Council. That limited Hartline to being a spectator, but others took up his cause.

San Diego minister Adlei Mack had a stern warning for those who voted for the brief. “You will burn,” Mack said, adding that anyone who engages in adultery, fornication, or same-sex relations “will go to hell for it.” Mack said he believes in “discrimination by God.”

Jesse Albritten, who opposed the item, said he was disturbed by “dating practices of the gays.” Albritten read a gay personal ad out loud, noting that it was written by a black man who wanted to eat “white meat.”

Speakers in favor of the brief also cited religious references and read quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.

“This issue is near and dear to me. Simply put, separate but equal rights are not equal,” said State Sen. Christine Kehoe, who served two terms on the City Council in the 1990s and was the first lesbian elected to public office in San Diego.

“Neither civil unions nor domestic partnerships can provide the clearly understood rights and responses of civil marriage,” said Kehoe.

“San Diego has a history of supporting equal rights for LGBT San Diegans, dating back to our passage of the Human Dignity Ordinance.”

Frye explained why she voted against the brief on Sept. 4, saying “I have been scolded... [but] I would do it again.” Frye said there was not enough public notice of the issue, and she did not agree with Peters’ rule on Sept. 4 to allow speakers only one minute to talk. The item was made public Aug. 29, three days before the Labor Day weekend. The city attorney disagreed with Frye and said there was enough public notice.

Jim Reed, who opposed the item, told the Council he believed “homosexual acts are immoral...and [don’t] call that sin a right.” Reed said the vote would “open the door to an immoral landslide that will bury us.” Another speaker said “gay marriage will destroy families.”

Jennifer Morse, an author who opposed the item, said children who are adopted by same-sex couples suffer negative outcomes. She said “triple parenting will emerge” between the child’s biological father, biological mother, and their partners.

One woman said if same-sex marriage is allowed, “Next we’ll see a man and two womean getting married or an adult with a child.” One man testified he was attracted to men, but he described it as “a sexual disorder that stems from great hurts.”

“We all believe in family values that support all families,” said Bonnie Russell, with her same-sex partner of 19 years.

Another woman and her same-sex partner of 31 years told the Council, “We have always been married in our hearts, but we want to be married in fact.”

Robert Gleason urged the Council to be “on the right side of history.” He said that in the future, those opposed to same-sex marriage will look like Gov. George Wallace blocking the schoolhouse door from admitting black students.