Do you ever have one of those weeks where things just seem to go right for a change?

Here we were last week with the Massachusetts high court bluntly (for a court) reinforcing the rights of gays and lesbians to marry. Then, suddenly the city of San Francisco — not to be outdone by the East coasters, and accustomed to having all of the attention when it comes to diversity — rushes through the bureaucracy and issues marriage licenses to gays and lesbians.

Now we, and the rest of the world, can go online and see photo galleries featuring the happy wedding days of hundreds of gays and lesbians who have been legally married this week in San Francisco. And guess what: The sky isn’t falling. Heterosexual marriage isn’t affected, except to remind everyone how important wedding vows can be. And as far as we know the sanctity of marriage has not yet been destroyed by the ceremonies in San Francisco.

This week, decades of effort has come to fruition in what is becoming a landmark moment on the road to civil rights for the GLBT community.

And in the midst of all of the organizations’ efforts, the diplomacy, the endorsements, the lobbying and the op-eds — what it’s come down to is the resolve of one individual. When President Bush’s State of the Union remarks denouncing marriage for gays and lesbians didn’t sit well with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, he started looking into the feasibility of constructing full-on marriage rights for gays and lesbians in his city. He talked to many Democratic politicians and community activists, including Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) who allegedly advised him that it was a great idea but that the timing was just off.

There are still political activists who support marriage for gays and lesbians but fear that its current timing will cause a backlash against the efforts made for GLBT marriage rights, in an important election year; other community activists perhaps rightly feel that the stroke of drama has left them out of the loop, that there needs to be a coordinated effort in moving forward.

We say: When it comes to civil rights, the time to act is always now. We applaud Mayor Newsom for having the courage of his convictions — for going for it, if you will. Not only has the thing been done, it’s been done without apology and with lots of flair; with a city-hosted, celebrity-attended party thrown in to celebrate. And it took a white, privileged straight guy — so buttoned down and hair-gelled he could replace Barbie’s ex, Ken — to do it.

Sometimes good things come from the most unexpected places.

Unfortunately, when it comes to our city’s mayoral candidates, there will most likely be very little of the unexpected. With elections coming up on March 2, now is the time to look at how San Diego’s mayoral candidates stand on GLBT issues, and it’s most likely going to be business as usual.

Mindful of the past records of the three main candidates — Peter Q. Davis, incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy and County Supervisor Ron Roberts — we endorse Roberts. While none of these three candidates have gone out of their way to promote GLBT rights, in the 2000 mayoral race Roberts publicly spoke out against Proposition 22, the state measure that banned marriage for gays and lesbians (and which Mayor Newsom is so eloquently defying). Roberts also has been friendly and open to the gay and lesbian community, becoming a regular in the Pride parade and voting for domestic-partner benefits for county employees during his current tenure as a county supervisor. We feel that if he were in the mayor’s seat, he would be more inclusive of the community than the present mayor has been.

Mayor Murphy, who has been open to diversity generally, has voted against the community on key issues like needle-exchange programs, the Boy Scouts lawsuit and the medical use of marijuana. Importantly, the Mayor spoke publicly in favor of Proposition 22 and has never reversed his position on marriage for gays and lesbians. While the mayor has made many gay and lesbian appointments to city planning boards and commissions, and of course appointed lesbian city councilmember Toni Atkins as deputy mayor, he has yet to take a single position in open support of gay and lesbian rights.

Meanwhile, Peter Q. Davis has said very little on issues pertinent to the gay and lesbian community; but in the 2000 mayoral race he managed to cancel himself out by speaking in favor of marriage for gays and lesbians, and then back-tracking just before the election.

We applaud Green candidate Jim Bell for his unhesitating support of marriage for gays and lesbians. Were this the only issue, he’d have our support 100 percent, but as of yet we don’t find the Green party sufficiently up to par on other city issues, so we’re sticking with the major-party candidates.

Next week’s issue will have a large, all-you-need-to-know guide to the elections and our recommendations on how to vote. In the meantime, Mayor Newsom has given us a great reason to put the question of marriage, and other questions of equal importance, on the table, and to take our candidates to task on issues that are important to us — preferably without apology, and with lots of flair.