<p>So Mayor Gavin Newsom -- having sounded the trumpet in the battle over same-sex marriage -- walks into a room filled with the Bay Area's Irish Catholic old guard and a bunch of priests.</p>
<p>Sounds like the setup to a corny joke, right? Well, no joke. It happened at the American Ireland Fund's annual dinner at the St. Francis Hotel, when Newsom, as well as his father, the Hon. William Newsom, a retired California appellate court justice, were honored with the charitable organization's Distinguished Leadership Award.</p>