Having been involved with San Diego Pride since the beginning in 1974, I have the unique experience of knowing every board of directors. Sadly, the current Pride Board has lost its way and lost touch with the LGBT community which it serves. Last week’s Pride Board meeting saw almost 100 San Diegans show up with a solid vocal vote of “no confidence” with San Diego LGBT Pride. The good news is that five representatives of the Pride Board and five representatives of the almost 100 concerned San Diegans who showed up at the meeting are meeting this week to discuss the future of San Diego Pride, and I predict some major positive changes.
Among possible changes that may be coming to Pride are: Community voting for the board of directors; the removal of “Board Emeritus” positions; the immediate re-instatement of the “Community Advisory Council;” and Pride Board meeting minutes to be publicly posted every month.
One of the major demands of community activists was that the popular former executive director of Pride, Stephen Whitburn be reinstated. Whitburn, who has been the face of Pride while the board members were invisible (some LGBT elected officials told me that they didn’t know, or remember meeting the current board members) has a huge following and many supporters within the LGBT community. Stay tuned!
Bravo Padres!
After that now infamous San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus “national anthem” incident on the field of Petco Park, Councilman Todd Gloria, Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Padres baseball team executives immediately began discussions with LGBT leaders on how to improve relationships. I attended a meeting at City Hall with Padres baseball owners and executives, along with Barbara Blake, Susan Jester, Stephen Whitburn, Bob Lehman and others. Among the things discussed was “diversity training” for the entire staff, which they agreed to. Now comes word that the Padres will be the major presenting sponsor of the Gay Men’s Chorus’ annual holiday concert Jingle, to be held Dec. 10-11. I salute the San Diego Padres, especially its President and CEO Mike Dee for being men of their word and making a serious outreach to our LGBT community.
Fourth District supervisor race is on!
Popular County Supervisor Ron Roberts’ last term may be up in just about two years, but people are already quietly lining up to replace him. Veteran advocate and former state Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher as of now is considered the clear frontrunner among Democrats, although Democratic Party icon Laurie Black called me to say she is also considering a run for supervisor. Councilwoman Lorie Zapf has also told me she is considering this race and word is that Bonnie Dumanis is being urged by many to look at this race, although she told me she is for now making her job as District Attorney her No.1 priority. Others being mentioned include former popular Council President Tony Young. Look for the Fourth District supervisor’s race to be a major battle royale!
2016 Nicky Awards nominations
The 2016 Nicky Awards Nomination Night will be Monday, Oct. 3 at Martinis above Fourth nightclub. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the presentation begins at 7 p.m.
The 41st Annual Nicky Awards themselves will be held Sunday, Nov. 13 at the Handlery Hotel in Mission Valley.
This year’s list of nominees for the 41st Annual Nicky Awards will be posted this week at nickyawards.org
For further information on the 2016 Nicky Awards please call: 619-692-1967 or 619-862-8654.
Reinstate Steve and hire a new board of the LGBT community with diversity reflecting our community. I am available!
log on to http://www.savesdpride.org and there is a FB page where the community is organizing. It looking like a town hall is going to be coming very soon, you can stay connected by liking the page.
Has the Pride board made mistakes? Yes. Is the Pride board perfect? No. Has the Pride board made bad decisions? Yes. Does the LGBT community come around like sharks when they smell blood in the water? Yes. For anyone to think that any organization can or should ask for community input on personnel matters is absolutely ludicrous. I have to think that there is more to this than we have heard but then I can’t expect to hear from Pride on the reasons for the termination of the ED. The staff (other than the ED) don’t know and Pride can’t say. So why is the community so sure that their decision wasn’t for just cause? Answer? Sharks! It is also interesting that the Pride board is always in need of board members and from what I’ve heard has difficulty getting applicants. Only when there is blood in the water do people think they can do better and say sign me up. Where have you been if you think you can do better?
Thank you Zelda! I’be been actively trying to recruit new members for the past 2 years. Amazing how much criticism I’ve witnessed and have personally received, especially from people who don’t even know me….. As I always look for the positive, we’re very fortunate to have a committed and active community in our Pride Family…..;-)
Nenette Agulto has been a toxic player on the pride board. I was at the meeting where she disrespected and taunted community members for expressing their concerns she even rolled her eyes when a disability and bisexual advocate accused Board Secretary Jaime Carrillo of sexual harassment, Jaime even admitted to it. That’s the guy who failed to post the minutes but is also going to France to represent SD Pride.
Nanette is also one of the board members that the volunteers accused of being drunk and disorderly at pride
😉
Nanette, please don’t play the holier-than-thou card. A lot of us were at that meeting.
You scoffed, rolled your eyes, yawned, hemmed and hawed, and looked away at times during public comment at the meeting. Clearly, out of annoyance. However, the governance of Pride is about the collective organization and the community — not about you, personally. Or any other individual member of the Pride Board.
If your lone argument — in direct opposition to most of the Pride staff and volunteers, and community members — is to make this about all about you and yourself, then you do not have the temperament to be a governing member of the Pride Board.
Nanette, you need to resign. Immediately.
log on to http://www.savesdpride.org and there is a FB page where the community is organizing. It looking like a town hall is going to be coming very soon, you can stay connected by liking the page.
Zelda, the issue here is there is no there there. The Pride Board has begun a whisper campaign with Stephen at the center of it, and provided the community with no information regarding his termination. This is a publicly funded non-profit, and the public has the right to disclosure and answers.
They stepped publishing meeting min May of 2015 ( https://sdpride.org/board-minutes/
), so they have been operating in secrecy for over a year and a half. They have disbanded the community advisory council, which was designed to get community input and make sure transparency was something that was a quantifiable thing, and are now operating in the dark. In such an environment, they have an obligation to explain why they are operating in such secrecy, and bring light to the dark corners that they are hiding in. A Full accounting of the events leading up to, and reasoning (if even in generalization for legal purposes ) for making the decision to fire their Executive Director is absolutely an ethical requirement, if not potentially a legal one should they eschew their disclosure responsibilities.
They are also required to make avaiulible a copy of thier 990 tax reporting form to any member of the public to maintain their C3 status, and they could loose their status to operate as a C3 if they do not comply with a member of the public’s request.
So Nenette, I Tres Watson am hereby publicly requesting you publish the 2013, 2014, and 2015 990’s as well as the missing meeting min within the coming days either on your website, a link you are welcome to publicly post here, or you can email me at tres@savesdpride.org and I would be more than happy to make them public on your behalf.
And no, an internal financial disclosure is not the same thing as the 990 you furnished the IRS. As far as board member recruitment is concerned, im sure in the next few week we will have quite a few new board members.
Let we forget the last time we went through this, it began with a column very much like this and it ended with a public forum at the center calling for the resignation of the remaining board members. I remember getting the call to action, and brainstorming who would be a steady had to calm the troubled waters and moderate, and I called non-other than Stephen Whitburn and asked him to moderate the forum last go round. Ironic, history does have a tendency to repeat itself.
In the end they resigned, and Pride regained the trust of the community. I hope we can spare the community’s time and effort, and make this transition as painless as possible.
Tres can you tell us more about this ‘www.savesdpride.org’ website and or group? I sent you an email to the address, but I see the website redirects here. Is that the group that is representing the community in this conversation. I would personally like to be made aware as the process unfolds.
Ron
Small Business Owner
Hillcrest
Chris
Yes I can, log on to http://www.savesdpride.org and there is a FB page where the community is organizing. It looking like a town hall is going to be coming very soon, you can stay connected by liking the page.
What we need now is for this process to move forward in a quick and deliberate way towards answers and to correct the course of OUR community Pride. It looks like this is happening with some members of the Pride board and the committee that was chosen by protestors on the sidewalk after the meeting on the 21st.
Please move forward to:
Reinstate the Community Advisory Council with a new and robust Mission statement.
and
Reinstate Stephen Whitburn to his position.
Luke Terpstra
Former Pride Volunteer and coordinator,
Hillcrest Town Council, Chair Emeritus
log on to http://www.savesdpride.org and there is a FB page where the community is organizing. It looking like a town hall is going to be coming very soon, you can stay connected by liking the page.
Whoever is telling Bonnie Dumanis to do anything but retire, please stop it!
Being judged by people who think they know me by how I react during 1 hr meeting. Let’s see how well you conduct yourself when your character is being attacked. Sorry if I didn’t respond as you wish. No more comments from me. You have already made your mind up….
Again, Nanette, you are making this about yourself. It’s not. This about the Pride organization, led — collectively — by a Board who cannot govern, has little to no non-profit experience, and has shown little concern to any of the numerous, legitimate grievances laid out by those in the community.
As I said… Nanette, you need to resign. Immediately.
log on to http://www.savesdpride.org and there is a FB page where the community is organizing. It looking like a town hall is going to be coming very soon, you can stay connected by liking the page.
Jesus can’t you people find a better place to lay out your dirty laundry for everyone to see.
Liz