Feinstein statement on gay marriage nets her 'Pink Brick' award

[Kadie]

Feinstein statement on gay marriage nets her 'Pink Brick' award
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, April 7, 2005


(04-07) 16:25 PDT San Francisco (AP) --


In Dianne Feinstein's hometown of San Francisco, hard feelings apparently linger about the senator's remark that the push to make marriage legal for same-sex couples hurt Democrats in the November election.


Organizers of the gay pride parade held in the city every June announced Thursday that Feinstein was the winner of this year's "Pink Brick" award, a dubious honor bestowed on the public figure who has done the most to damage the gay rights cause. President Bush and talk show host Laura Schlessinger were the previous winners.


Joey Cain, president of the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Committee, said Feinstein was nominated for the prize for telling reporters the morning after Bush's re-election that progress on the gay marriage front "has been too much, too fast, too soon."


"There are a lot of people in the community who feel very betrayed by her because they have supported her," Cain said.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/04/07/state/n162533D32.DTL

[despairing optimist]

1. Bet she didn't say that when she was mayor of SF

I hope Harvey Milk's ghost haunts her.

[FiveGoodMen]

2. Well, in the case of the Iraq War Vote

she said something to the effect of, "If I listened to my constituents, I'd vote against this ... but I'm voting for it."

Everyone should feel betrayed by her.

[xxqqqzme]

13. I do

n/t

[Moderator]

3. kick to combine

[Ernesto]

Feinstein statement on gay marriage nets her 'Pink Brick' award

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - In Dianne Feinstein's hometown of San Francisco, hard feelings apparently linger about the senator's remark that the push to make marriage legal for same-sex couples hurt Democrats in the November election. Organizers of the gay pride parade held in the city every June announced Thursday that Feinstein was the winner of this year's "Pink Brick" award, a dubious honor bestowed on the public figure a San Francisco group decides has done the most to damage the gay rights cause. President Bush and talk show host Laura Schlessinger were the previous winners. http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/12686819p-13539510c.html

[David Dunham]

4. Her remark was correct.

[trogdor]

6. I second that.

I'm sure if FDR campaigned on something resembling the Civil Rights Act of '64, Hoover would have won a second term. You gotta pick your battles if you want to make progress.

[Terran]

7. Your analogy is a false one

John Kerry didn't run on a gay marriage platform; in fact as I recall he stated he was against it. DiFi wasn't referring to John Kerry doing such a thing, she was talking about ordinary citizens exercising those pesky First Amendment rights.

I agree that our candidates need to do what they need to do to get elected--to an extent. But that doesn't and in no way EVER will apply to ordinary citizens who know injustice when they see it. They need to shout it from the rooftops 24/7 until the sleeping majority finally wake up and understand right from wrong. It's what happened with women and with African Americans in the country and it's happening a third time now. It's EXACTLY what the GLBT community needs to do to.

[mutus_frutex]

8. I guess those damn gays should

go into the closet until we are back in power. Right??

After all their rights aren't THAT important..

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

12. Right

Our time will come, they keep telling us.

No, as MLK, Jr. said, our time is now.

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

11. I don't really care whether she was "correct" or "incorrect"

There are plenty of other pro-gay Democrats who'd love her job. If she's not prepared to support one of the Democratic Party's strongest and longest-supporting constituencies, then she needs to move on and let one of them take over.

[swimmernsecretsea]

5. Good. She's no friend, although she thinks she is...

and she's been coasting through on her past relationship to Moscone and Milk. Give it up, DiFi.

[Robert Oak]

9. I think she's right

but while I believe she's right it doesn't make going for gay rights
wrong.

I'm in Oregon and a measure passed to ban gay marriage, only 36% voted against and I was
shocked frankly. It's a pretty socially liberal state so to
me it shows how this is a wedge issue, plus dragged out plenty
of...well whatever they are's to the polls.

It shouldn't be, just like civil rights before 1965...

but my impression she isn't saying gay marriage is wrong...
she's talking about politics if I read it right..

and disgusting as it is, I think the observation is correct
and gay groups have a long way to go to educate the general public
and get rid of discrimination, clearly.

Or we need a Kennedy or LBJ who has the power and just "does the right
thing" like 1964.

I guess for gays before the election is was 1954 and after the election
is went to 1920, analogous to civil rights.

Sad...I was embarrassed.

[Ernesto]

10. SF's mayor gave Karl Rove a major gift in the nick of time.

What would be a better way to stampede 'merica's bible thumping homophobes into action @ the polls?

[renaissanceguy]

14. NO, stop blaming gays for *'s win.

If you know your political theory, you would know it was this war that put * back in the white house. NEVER in U.S. history has a wartime president been defeated.

And it also came down to OBL's last video clip--repugs were asking who the terrorists would "vote" for.

[David Dunham]

21. Sorry, but in Ohio and Missouri, gay marriage was a huge pro-W issue

[Abathar]

15. Gay marriage win never win us a national election

it will only cost us one. The fact is that it is numbers, what is fair or right means nothing. Feinstein should have supported it, she has the base to win on it, but a lot of others don't and if they did the soundbite would be plastered on the repubs banners faster than hell. Our base is motivated on this issue yes, but we can't win on it in enought red states to shift the power we need. I believe we have to wait until we are in power and then hit them with this as hard as we can.

[megatherium]

16. Once upon a time, Bill Clinton supported gays in the military.

After he was elected president, he panicked early in his first term when Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA) made it clear that he opposed this. Clinton came up with the dreadful "don't ask don't tell" policy, under which as many service people have been forced out of the military as before.

What did Clinton accomplish by this? He disappointed, indeed angered his liberal supporters. But he didn't make the right happy with him, the religious right in particular would never forgive for having supported gay rights (that should read, human rights) in the first place. Clinton would never have been elected president, in 1992 or 1996, if it weren't for H. Ross Perot's intense dislike of the Bush family.

Clinton later ran radio ads in the South highlighting his signing of the Defense of Marriage Act. If this is what it would take to win the White House, count me out.

[Neecy]

17. and still, he asked us for money

And we gave it to him, in very very large amounts. I gave more to Bill Clinton in 1992 than I'd given to all polticians and causes combined in the past.

And...I got DOMA.

Feinstein has asked me for money, too. I almost had to be picked off the floor from laughing! Then I gave to Boxer.

If the Democrats want our dollars - and they do - they'd better stop jumping on the 'persecute the evil gays' bandwagon. Because until they do, my wallet is officially closed.

[libnnc]

18. my wallet is closed too

What do we (gays and lesbians) do every four years? What do we do? We scamper--like the hope filled lemmings that we are--to our local Dem heaquarters. We give money, time, intellect--and most importantly--passion, to the Democratic party and what do we get in return? We are told to sit down and shut the fuck up. Wooing the morons in the red states is more important than addressing our issues and standing up for our rights when we're threatened by a hostile administration.

So, to the heterosexual world--a quick reminder--WE DIDN'T START THIS FIRE! As a lesbian, what the fuck am I supposed to do when the POTUS goes on the tee-vee and states that his #1 priortiy (post 9/11) is to change the Constitution to ensure that I remain a second class citizen? What the fuck am I supposed to do when THEY FIRED THE FIRST SHOT? Oh yeah...sit on my hands. :eyes:

Note to hetero-dem candidates: You can't have my $$, you can't have my time, you can't have my intellect, and you sure as hell can't have my passion anymore.

No more free lunches, baby. :nuke:

:rant:

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

19. Amen.

No money from me unless they support gays and oppose anti-gay measures. Gays vote Democratic consistently and reliably. It's not too much to ask that they support and defend gays in return.

If they can't do that, they won't get any support from me, either.

[David Dunham]

20. I know gay marriage hurt Kerry in Ohio in a very big way

If only San Fran and Mass. had been smarter and waited until 2005 to address the gay marriage issue.

[libnnc]

22. gee, that's funny I thought it was Diebold that hurt Kerry in OH

[KamaAina]

23. This from a woman who once hosted a lesbian wedding in her backyard

in the prestigious Presidio Heights section of SF. An unofficial ceremony, obviously, and thanks to her, it'll stay that way :grr: