Mourners streamed into San Francisco City Hall on Wednesday to pay their respects to the late US Sen. Dianne Feinstein, honoring her as fearless, smart, and the glue who kept the city together after two political assassinations that catapulted her into the mayor's office and the national spotlight. "She wasn't afraid to do a man's job. She wasn't afraid to be a senator. She wasn't afraid to go after what she wanted," said Lawanda Carter, 48, of San Francisco, per the AP. "And that's encouragement for us women now to have courage." A memorial service is scheduled for Thursday outside City Hall.
Carter was among those who brought flowers, bowed their heads, or clasped their hands in prayer as they stood before Feinstein's casket, which was draped in an American flag and on display behind velvet ropes. Many said they had never met Feinstein but wanted to honor an indefatigable public servant who fought to level the playing field for women, members of the LGBTQ community, and racial minorities. Feinstein died last week in her Washington, DC, home after a series of illnesses. She was 90. She was San Francisco's first female mayor and one of California's first two female US senators. Former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also of San Francisco, and Mayor London Breed were among the officials who paid their respects Wednesday.
Despite her Senate career, Feinstein will be known as the forever mayor of San Francisco, a role she inherited in tragedy. She was president of the Board of Supervisors in 1978 when a former supervisor assassinated Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, the city's first openly gay supervisor, at City Hall. Feinstein, who found Milk's body, became acting mayor and won election twice to serve as mayor until 1988. Georgia Otterson, 76, a health care administrator, said Feinstein wasn't as politically liberal as she would have liked but earned her respect with the way she kept the heartbroken city together. "We were all mourning together, holding candles. If memory serves me, Joan Baez sang," Otterson said of an impromptu march that night from the historically gay Castro District to City Hall. "And she held us up."
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As a centrist Democrat, Feinstein was sometimes criticized by people on the left. But the straight, white woman largely earned the gratitude of a city that celebrates its racial and sexual diversity. She steered San Francisco through the HIV and AIDS crisis, bringing attention to an epidemic ignored by President Ronald Reagan. She secured federal and private funding to save the city's iconic but deteriorating cable cars. Another local tradition—Fleet Week—was started by Feinstein in 1981, and this year's celebration of air shows, naval ships, and military bands is dedicated to her. Cari Donovan placed a bouquet of red and pink lilies and daisies at the casket. She lingered, crying quietly. "She championed and fought for the rights of so many people," Donovan said. The social worker said she talked to her 28-year-old daughter about the battles Feinstein fought so that younger generations of women could dream bigger. "She was a lioness."
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