SF Pride Withholds Pink Brick
Organizers of San Francisco's LGBT Pride parade and celebration are being tightlipped about their decision not to give out the pink brick to anyone this year, including Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate who was one of the nominees.
The dubious honor, which typically goes to someone who's done harm to the LGBT community, has previously been awarded to people such as conservative Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly and anti-gay activist Peter LaBarbera. Even Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California), a former San Francisco mayor, received the distinction in 2004 after she called then-Mayor Gavin Newsom's allowing same-sex couples to marry "too much, too fast, too soon."
"We will not be issuing a pink brick for 2016. It is an aspect of the event that I would like to reevaluate for the future. Given where we are in the planning for 2016 we will not be looking at this until after this year's event," George Ridgely, the LGBT Pride Celebration Committee's executive director, said in an email last week.
That news comes despite the Pride Committee asking the public to cast their votes for a pink brick winner earlier this year, and presumably, thousands of people did.
Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, was one of three candidates for this year's pink brick. The others were Liberty Council, an organization that specializes in evangelical Christian litigation; and One Million Moms, a group that's affiliated with the anti-gay American Family Association.
Neither Ridgely nor Pride board President Michelle Meow would answer questions about the decision not to have a pink brick this year, including who made the decision and when, whether Trump would have been the recipient, and why organizers had solicited people's votes if the award wasn't going to be given out.
In response to emailed questions, Ridgely said, "I don't have any other information at this time."
Meow, also known as Michelle Sinhbandith, responded by saying, "To clarify, we, as in the organization, do not have further information regarding this matter at this time."
She then repeated Ridgely's original statement about the pink brick being reevaluated "for the future."
This year's Pride festivities are set for June 25-26.