Archbishop George Niederauer, who wears a dress to work, has been awarded a Pink Brink by the parade committee, for his notorious efforts to pass Prop 8 in California.

The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee announced on June 15 that a second Pink Brick has been given to Archbishop George Niederauer. The Pink Brick is an annual “award” given each year to a person or institution whose actions are deemed to have caused significant harm to the LGBT community.  Pride’s membership voted at their June meeting to throw a second Brick at Niederauer by awarding him the title of “Pink Brick Runner-Up.” 

“After the first Pink Brick, the Pride Committee received thoughtful feedback from the community that Archbishop Niederauer’s actions in support of Proposition 8 caused significant harm to the LGBT community. We hope that with this Pink Brick, we can educate the community about Archbishop Niederauer’s work to deny LGBT couples equal protection under the law,” San Francisco Pride’s Board President Mikayla Connell stated.

“Archbishop Niederauer’s support of Proposition 8, which is not representative of all faith communities or even of all Catholics, has only served to harm LGBT families, many of whom are Catholic themselves.” 

“We find it extremely disturbing that a church leader in a country founded on the principles of freedom, including religious freedom, would use his position in the church to fight against the secular right of LGBT people to form legally recognized marriages,” Connell said. “No person’s religious faith should define the secular legal rights of other people in the community. All faiths have the right to define what sacramental marriage is for their faithful – no church has the right to decide what secular marriage is for all other people.” She said, “LGBT Americans deserve the promise of America – the promise of equality. And so today, we throw a metaphorical Pink Brick at Archbishop Niederauer for his attempts to deny us that secular equality.” 

Connell added with wry humor, “However, we wouldn’t want the award to go to his head, so Pride’s membership has decided he is only the Runner-Up. We sincerely hope that the Archbishop comes to embrace the LGBT community instead of work against it, and that we will never have to toss another metaphorical brick at him again – Pride would be happy to engage the Archbishop about how the Church and LGBT communities can support each other on behalf of all the faithful, be they straight or LGBT.”

Each year, the Pride Celebration Committee organizes a Pink Brick Booth on Civic Center Plaza to gather signed statements from Pride attendees to be sent to the annual Pink Brick recipients along with their honor.

In 2008, homophobic news pundit Bill O’Reilly received the award for his inflammatory coverage of the LGBT community. Board President Connell delivered the Pink Brick to O’Reilly on air during his news program.

Pride’s Board of Directors elected in May to give a Pink Brick to Carrie Prejean, the now ousted Miss California, for her inflammatory comments about same-sex marriage.

The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee (SFPride.org) is a non-profit membership organization founded to produce the annual San Francisco Pride Celebration & Parade. With its office located at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, San Francisco Pride is dedicated to education, commemoration of LGBT heritage, and celebration of LGBT culture and liberation. A world leader in the Pride movement, San Francisco Pride is also a grant-giving organization through its Community Partners Program. Since 1997, SFLGBTPCC has granted over $1.4 million dollars from proceeds of the Pride Celebration and Parade to local non-profit LGBT organizations and those organizations serving the HIV/AIDS and breast cancer communities.

This year marks the 39th anniversary of the San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade. This year’s theme is “In Order to Form a More Perfect Union…” The event will be held over the weekend of June 27 and 28. With over 200 parade contingents, 300 exhibitors, and more than 20 community-run stages and venues, the San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade is the largest annual gathering of LGBT people and allies in the nation. The two-day celebration is free and open to all. For more information, visit the website at SFPride.org.