Although activists know the mayor’s support will help their cause, winning the right for same-sex couples to marry does not require Reed’s support to succeed. 

Reed has every right to not agree with gay marriage, but he does not have the right to suppress the personal choices of others because of his own beliefs. Marriage has never encompassed one religion, and the freedom of sexuality is not truly something Reed, or anyone, has the right to rule on. 

With 34,000 gay couples in the Bay Area, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is becoming a force to be reckoned with, like any other public interest group. 

California Lt. Gov. and former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has opposed Proposition 8 to ban same-sex marriages, which voters passed in 2008. 

While this controversy has silenced many state officials, various mayors throughout California have pledged their support for same-sex marriage, including Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster and Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom.  

With so many California mayors on board with LGBT civil liberties, this leaves Reed in an unpopular position. 

Even though Reed has come out in support of benefits for same-sex partnerships, it is simply not enough. Eventually, Reed will have to stop dismissing the rights of the local LGBT community, even if he continues to insist that same sex-marriage is a matter for the courts, with the U.S. Supreme Court mostly likely taking up in the near future.