Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed took his gay marriage victory lap on Thursday, telling gay MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts – who recently wed his longtime partner – that he’s not new to supporting LGBT equality.

But Reed is new to supporting gay marriage. On Tuesday, he announced that his long-standing reluctance to back marriage equality had evolved. He signed a recent resolution backing gay marriage from the Atlanta City Council and said, “I announce my support for marriage equality.”

On Thursday, he told Roberts (video above) that his support for civil unions grew into backing gay marriage after consultations with gay friends, his father and his religiously conservative chief of staff.

“The resolution really gave me the opportunity to really focus on the issue and think about it,” Reed tells Roberts in the video. “There is a difference between marriage and civil unions.”