Roger Guillemin & Le Corbeau: Father and Son
Carl DeMaio - Photo by David Rolland
The names "Caster" and "A-1 Self Storage" are familiar to anyone who covered (or followed) the 2008 Prop. 8 campaign. Thirteen members of the Caster family, from patriarch Terry to daughter Cha-Cha, donated a combined $693,000 ($425,000 to ProtectMarriage.com and the rest to the National Organization for Marriage) to support the ballot measure that denied gay couples the right to marry in California. The Casters' contributions put them among the top-10 donors to Prop. 8.
According to a March 2008 story from the U-T San Diego, Terry Caster said he supported Prop. 8 because, “Without solid marriage, you are going to have a sick society.”
The Casters have some other odd ideas on what constitutes a "solid" marriage.
So, it was surprising to see this tweet from mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio earlier today:
He was responding to this tweet from the Caster Group:
DeMaio is gay and in a committed relationship with the publisher of the online San Diego Gay and Lesbian News. When DeMaio first ran for City Council, in 2008, he declined to take a position on Prop. 8, but has since become more active in the gay community. But though his mayoral campaign's "coalitions" include an LGBT group, DeMaio's made it clear that gay-rights issues won't be part of the campaign.
Gay rights, however, are important to Mayor Jerry Sanders, whose daughter is gay. This week, Sanders travelled to Washington, D.C., to announce the formation of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, a coalition he'll co-chair with Boston Mayor Tom Menino. If elected, would Mayor DeMaio do the same?
