No small plans indeed…

Recently, I've noted a lot of folks who dismissed Gavin Newsom during his run for mayor of San Francisco have been giving him due thanks — some, with cause, while holding their noses — for, however temporarily, legalizing same-sex marriage in San Francisco.

Though he doesn't have the power to do it directly, those of us with several reservations about Chicago mayor Richard Daley may have to do the same thing.

Asked for his thoughts on gay marriages, Daley pointed out only County Clerk David Orr, not the city, has the power to grant marriage licenses. The county does not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, though last October it established a Domestic Partnership Registry.

"David Orr can do it any way he wants. That would be up to him. But I have no problems with that issue at all," Daley said.

"A lot of people are opposed to it. So be it," the mayor said. "But again, you have to point out the strength of that community — they're doctors, they're lawyers, they're journalists, they're politicians, they're someone's son or daughter, they're someone's mother or father.

"They're parents, and I have been with them. They've adopted children. They have wonderful children. To me, we have to understand this is part and parcel of our families and our extended families."

Daley said "we have to understand" what the gay couples have been saying: "They love each other, just as much as anyone else. They believe that the benefits they don't have, they should have. And so I have a very open mind on it."

Asked about criticisms same-sex marriages undermine traditional families, Daley responded that it was divorce, not gay or lesbianism, at the root of the problem.

"People have to look at their own lives and at their own marriages," he said. "Don't blame the gay, lesbian, transgender community, please. Don't blame them for it."

I feel just a teensy bit more warmly about my third home hearing that.

And Mr. Orr? The ball is in your court, and you've a chance to score love.

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