People Post is a space for opinion pieces, letters to the editor and guest submissions from members of the Long Beach community. The following is an op-ed submitted by Leslie Smith, a Cal State Long Beach (CSULB) alumni and Board Chair of the nonprofit California Families in Focus, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Long Beach Post.
Conspicuously absent from the Op-Ed issued by Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride (“LBLGP” or “Pride”) is an actual answer to my inquiry. Pride’s Op-Ed purports to be a response to the Op-Ed public inquiry made on January 9, 2018. However, setting aside the self-serving statements, the response begs more questions than it answers.
First, California Families in Focus (“CFF”) did not request a grant. In the months leading up to its 14th Annual Spirit of Christmas celebration for LGBTQIA youth, CFF reached out directly and personally to Long Beach Pride and members of Pride’s executive board numerous times, in writing, asking for any type of financial donation. Not a single request was acknowledged, nor was a single request responded to. On the heels of the Spirit of Christmas event, CFF hand delivered a written request to an executive committee member who personally delivered it to the entire executive committee. LaRhonda Slaughter took the written request from the other member and said “I will personally take care of this.” Again, no reply. Why?
The same exact thing occurred when requests were made by the transgender community for their 1st Annual Transgender Holiday Dinner this past holiday season. A current member of Pride made repeated requests to use Pride’s space to hold the 1st Annual Transgender Holiday Dinner for 50 people. As with CFF, that member’s requests were ignored until she had to find an alternate venue.
When repeated requests for assistance that falls within the organization’s mission are ignored, it not only speaks volumes about the “governance” at Pride, but also the importance, or lack of importance, Pride appears to place on certain segments of our LGBTQIA community. And on the issue of governance, I publicly requested the meeting minutes in my Op-Ed, concerning how CFF’s request for assistance was handled and the reason(s) discussed by the Board for presumably not approving the request. Instead of deflecting, if Pride truly wishes to take my commentary to heart and improve its communications with the community like it says, perhaps it can be more transparent and provide me with an answer to my questions.
Second, while it came as a complete surprise to me that Pride defunded community grants in 2017, I am happy to hear that such funding will resume for 2018. Yet I have to ask where the grant money is going to come from? If Pride is using the same “vendor” model to run the festival, as opposed to using volunteers, one might expect a loss of revenue in 2018 too.
I agree that Pride’s funds are not unlimited. However, as a non-profit organization, the funds generated from the festival and any rental income are supposed to be used for the public and the community to fulfill Pride’s mission. That is the benefit of being a tax-exempt organization. Despite being the second largest pride festival in the country, Pride’s revenue has been dwindling more and more since 2014. Whether that decrease is due to hiring vendors to run the festival or some other reason, one has to wonder how Pride can justify spending 10’s or 100’s of thousands of dollars on all-expense-paid trips for its executive committee and/or board members, and not have funds for community grants? As a stakeholder, I have to ask how do these lavish trips help the public or the community? Yes, bridge building is important, but the cost of bridge building outside of the Long Beach community appears to be adversely affecting the bridge building within the community.
Yes, it is unfortunate that I was not able to reach out to Pride personally to air my concerns. That was not because I did not want to. But why would Pride be any more responsive to me reaching out “personally” to “air my concerns,” than it was when CFF—a longstanding, reputable, charitable organization—personally reached out repeatedly to various executive committee members to request funds for the 14th Annual Spirit of Christmas celebration? Would me reaching out personally have shed any more light on why CFF’s repeated calls-to-action were ignored? Given the culture that exists at Pride toward anyone who dares to question their tactics or motives, I think not! The fiefdom mentality that exists at Pride must change, and it must change now!
While I appreciate the platform and all of the advances that Pride has brought to the LGBTQIA community throughout the years, we cannot continue to ignore the enormous responsibilities that Pride, like every non-profit organization, has to the community. Nor can we ignore the important duties imposed upon each board member: the duty of care, the duty of loyalty, and the duty of obedience. The failure of any member to adhere to these duties fosters mistrust in the community. But worse, blatant violations of these duties can lead to the loss of an organization’s non-profit status, among other things.
I have witnessed a high level of community outcry from many LBLGP members who have held positions at every level within Pride’s organization throughout the years. These outcries have raised red flags about potential impropriety and breaches of a member’s duties, particularly, the duty of loyalty which mandates that each executive committee member and board member always act in the best interests of the organization and avoid conflicts of interest or even the appearance of conflicts.
If the current leadership at Pride is going to ignore the organizations mission, usurp the power of the Board, and treat LBLGP as a private family corporation, perhaps Pride should relinquish its non-profit charitable status.
In light of the growing concerns about possible impropriety within the top ranks of LBLGP, and concerns about whether it is truly fulfilling its mission, I, as a concerned stakeholder, am now calling for a public audit of LBLGP’s books, records and minutes, including all electronic and digital recordings of such.
Finally, I had every intention of staying above the fray and only addressing my concerns about why CFF’s requests on behalf of the LGBTQIA youth were ignored, but I cannot sit by and allow the misstatements, misperceptions and glaring omissions in Pride’s Op-Ed to go unaddressed.
For starters, my Op-Ed was not written nor sponsored by anyone other than me. To be clear, it was not a statement by or on behalf of CFF. I wrote the Op-Ed as a concerned stakeholder in the LGBTQIA youth community seeking to understand why an organization which purports to be a community organization whose mission it is to support activities that celebrate LGBT pride could thumb its nose at a request to help our LGBTQIA youth. Nor was my Op-Ed written or sponsored by Angel Macias, a person who is known for her integrity, ethics, and who is a proven business leader and community/social activist who has worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years to help youth and their families achieve empowerment and purpose. As such, it was inappropriate for Pride to turn this into a personal matter.
Contrary to Pride’s Op-Ed, CFF and Angel Macias had been involved in community service work long before LBLGP reached out to her to revive its dormant “children’s garden” which CFF changed to “Family Fun Zone.” It was also CFF who came up with the concept of having Teen Pride during the Pride weekend festival, not LBLGP. CFF started Teen Pride and then partnered with the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach to bring in the youth to celebrate during the Pride festival. Similarly, it was CFF who started the Senior area at the Pride festival, not LBLGP. CFF ran all three events on a shoestring budget, yet they were always successful.
As for the claim that compensation has been made for all of CFF’s time, that too is not true. For the 2017 Pride Festival, CFF was instrumental in securing donated furniture from IKEA for Family Fun Zone; and, despite spending countless hours planning, organizing the entertainment, and coordinating the volunteers for Teen Pride and Family Fun Zone, CFF agreed to allow its fee to be given to the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach. Although CFF turned in all required paperwork to Pride’s treasure for payment to all vendors, including the fee to be paid to the Center of Long Beach, the agreed upon fee has still not been given to the Center of Long Beach.
Lastly, LBLGP’s claim that it provided CFF with free office space is also not true. The truth is that during all of the years CFF was a tenant at Pride, CFF not only paid rent, but it also provided a variety of services to Pride in exchange for a reduction in rent; not an uncommon arrangement for non-profit organizations. And while on the subject of CFF’s tenancy, what Pride conveniently failed to mention is that when Angel Macias, CFF’s CEO and Founder, was in Sacramento taking care of her terminally ill wife and raising her murdered brother’s orphaned children, CFF’s corporate documents, training binders, furniture and office equipment were stolen from Pride’s premises. Some of those stolen items were later found in a storage locker at LaRhonda Slaugther’s home—Pride’s current VP of Administration—by her ex-girlfriend while she was moving out.
In spite of all this, Angel and CFF have shown nothing but the utmost respect, gratitude and professionalism toward Pride and each of its existing and former members. Unfortunately, it was not always reciprocated.
Leslie Renee Smith is a native of California. She attended Cal State Long Beach in the 1970’s, and went on to graduate from Washington & Lee School of Law in Lexington, Virginia. She has been practicing law for over 26 years. Leslie grew up and played basketball with recently deceased Long Beach Detective Kimberly Maddox. Leslie currently serves as the Board Chair of the non-profit California Families in Focus.