Roland Palencia, Executive Director of Equality California has announced he is resigning from the organization. After an extensive executive search, Palencia was named the Executive Director in May of 2011. His tenure has lasted less than 5 months.
While it is not unusual for executive directors that follow long term executive directors, like Geoff Kors, to essentially be interim directors, Palencia’s resignation comes as a shock to the LGBT community. According to San Diego LGBT Weekly sources, there was significant negative reaction to the decision by EQCA not to get involved with marriage in California going forward. This may have been what led to Palencia’s short tenure.
Our sources indicate that the decision by EQCA’s board was contentious, with the motion to support a 2012 marriage equality referendum being defeated by one vote. Essentially the EQCA board was spilt over whether the organization should continue to channel its efforts and resource toward marriage equality.
Major donors of EQCA in San Diego expressed concern about the direction of organization last week and San Diego LGBT Weekly was preparing a major story about these concerns. EQCA did not involve or poll its major donors concerning its stance on the organization’s future involvement in marriage equality and many major donors felt duped.
Palencia has stated to FrontiersLA.com “I want to make sure that everyone supports the organization. This is the time for all of us to rally and support Equality California. I have seen how this organization literally changes lives. It is a community asset and we have to keep our eye on the prize.” Clearly, the future of EQCA is in flux due to this ongoing organizational strategy fight. Will donors withhold money until marriage equality is put back into the organizational strategic direction?
More to come as this story develops.
The true thorn in the heart of marriage equality is DOMA. The focus must be turned on DOMA. Winning the right to marry in California, my husband and I married during the brief time it was allowed, 142 days. We celebrate our 33rd anniversary together in January. We married on 8/8/2008 thinking we were support the fight for marriage equality. As a result of DOMA, we not treated equally but instead we and others legally married and their families are in their home states suffering unthinkable legally sanctioned discriminatory hardships. Note: William E. Kelly via Gay Marriage USA
I am sorry to see Mr. Palencia leave. I fully agree with EQCA’s decision not to go to the ballot in 2012. A ballot initiative in 2012 would detract from national efforts to defeat anti-marriage initiatives in North Carolina and to support the re-implementation of marriage equality in Maine. A marriage battle in California would also drain resources from the effort to reelect President Obama, which is critical to the LGBT community’s continued progress. I am convinced that Prop 8 will go down the tubes at the hands of the federal courts, and that that decision will help lead to the demise of DOMA and to marriage equality ultimately being the national norm. Lets let the courts act. Again, back to Mr. Palencia, I am sorry to see him leave but I fully support EQCA.
This articles presents an odd interpretation of a strategic/tactical decision about how to best achieve marriage equality. How does the decision not to support a 2012 ballot initiative equate to a decision to abandon marriage equality as an issue that is a part of EQCA’s mission? At most, its a debate about how to proceed.
The concern about the strategic direction was raised by major donors not San Diego LGBT Weekly. Sorry for any confusion.
EQCA is disappearing into the pit it dug for itself. Donors stopped supporting it for two big reasons: 1. The EQCA board gave a large donation to the California Republican Party via a Log Cabin fundraiser party, in order to ingratiate EQCA to Schwarzenegger in a pathetic attempt to get his support for marriage equality. The result? Arnold went ahead and vetoed both marriage bills that passed the Legislature. (Way to go, EQCA.) It was later revealed that there were some EQCA board members who were Republicans. 2. EQCA’s dismal performance during the 2008 fight to defeat Prop. 8. They made numerous blunders, especially with the TV commercials that we all raised millions of dollars for. EQCA refused to show gay couples in its ads against Prop. 8, and even avoided words like “gay” and “lesbian” in the campaign, which weakened our arguments and confused voters about what the proposition was really about: discrimination. The “No on 8” side raised far more money than the “Yes” campaign, and we were ahead in the polls during the summer and early fall of 2008. EQCA and HRC frittered away the money and that awesome advantage, and we lost. Millions of Californians have now been written out of the California Constitution, and we can all thank EQCA and HRC for their arrogance and incompetence.
Replace “HRC” with “NCLR” and you’re just about there. I’d add the third mistake was not going forward with a repeal effort in 2010. Their membership supported an immediate repeal effort, the energy was there, and in the wake of Prop 8, for once, the public saw that this was something that affected real people and that marriage equality was passionately cared about. EQCA frittered that passion and energy away.