Feinstein beats Lou Sheldon for dishonor in S.F.

In Dianne Feinstein's hometown of San Francisco, hard feelings apparently linger about the senator's remark that the push to make same-sex marriage legal hurt Democrats in the November election. Organizers of the gay pride parade held in the city every June announced Thursday that Feinstein won 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 reelection 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. Howard Gantman, a Feinstein spokesman, called the senator's selection as Pink Brick recipient "very unfortunate," saying it neglects Feinstein's long record of support for gay and lesbian issues not only as a senator but also as a former San Francisco supervisor and mayor during the early days of the AIDS crisis. Feinstein's competition for the prize, the gay community's answer to Hollywood's "Golden Raspberry" awards, or Razzies, honoring the worst in film, was the Reverend Lou Sheldon, a vocal opponent of gay rights, and the Traditional Values Coalition, the Orange County, Calif.-based organization Sheldon leads. (Lisa Leff, AP)