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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 2000)
tyÄlout august * Pride peace pursued To the E ditor : The board of Pride Northwest Inc. again would like to thank all the volunteers who spent pride weekend working at the event so we could all have a sun-filled celebration of our lives and our families. It was the biggest pride celebration we have had, and there were the most volun teers we have had for several years. At the beginning of the year, we asked the community to help us produce the event, and you did! We really could not have done it with out all the help we got. Thank you! Financially, pride was also a success this year. Several years ago, pride was operating in the red. This year, we raised approximately $52,000, and our expenses were approximately $45,000. A copy of our 2000 budget to date is available at www.pridenw.org. We still are receiving bills from this year’s event. We continue to struggle with the best ways to financially maintain pride. There are advantages and disadvantages to all of our fund-raising efforts. Every year, we dis cuss the pros and cons of the different options. A considerable amount of time was spent at a community meeting last fall discussing fund raising options, and some of the suggestions were implemented this year. At that meeting, there was also strong interest in pride hosting a second stage during the event, which we were able to successfully produce this year. As some of you know, two of our board mem bers from Pride 2000 are no longer on the board. Our board is self-electing, as are many boards. Every year, we hold a board election. Ten board members were voted upon by the other hoard members. (Our bylaws do not allow us to vote for ourselves.) Only two of the hoard members received un animous votes. Two others failed to get a majority. The board is continuing to carefully consider and review the dissatisfaction expressed by some individuals. When our review is complete, we will publish a forma! response to the community. Lastly, the Pride Northwest board will con tinue to have open meetings, and we encourage members of the community to join us. We will be setting the meeting schedule at our retreat later this summer, and the meeting dates and location will be listed on our Web site or avail able on our phone line at (503) 295-9788. T he B oard of P ride N orthwest I n c . Reconsider the process To the E ditor : Dear Members of the Pride Northwest Board: First, I want to congratulate you for completing another Portland pride celebration. This event is very important to our sense of community. It is especially important to the children, youth and newly “out” adults who have no idea of how many and how varied we are. I’m grate ful that although the pride hoard was laboring under the stress of internal differences and hurt feelings, you were able to work together to com plete Pride 2000. I am deeply distressed to hear of the removal of Tamara Swan and Janna MacAuslan from the pride hoard. Both of these women have dedicat ed many hours of volunteer labor and love to serving our community, and it disturbs me to hear that their efforts have been met with rejec tion of their offer of continuing service. Working together is never easy. It is espe cially difficult for people who face the daily stress of discrimination. It is more difficult still when you deliberately gather a diverse group of people who have different expectations and work styles. I do not believe organizational problems can be solved through the elimination of several participants. All too often, groups under stress decide to “solve” the problem by identifying one or two people as “the problem” and eliminating them. This form of internal warfare will leave the dominant group with more sense of control, but it rarely solves the underlying issue of meet ing the needs of a diverse community. I know many of you and have worked with you in a variety of situations over a number of years. Each of you brings unique skills and per spectives that strengthen our community and move us toward the common goal of gaining jus tice for sexual minorities. I urge you to reconsider the process you used to address your internal group process conflicts. I hope you can find a way to bring Tamara and Janna back to the board and to work together. I hope you will seek this solution not as a com promise but as a positive step toward celebrating your work and strengthening the community. Temporary & Direct Placement Administrative & Clerical Support Call Center & Customer Service Warehouse & Distribution Semiconductor Cleanroom Production IT, IS, and Creative Talent Sales & Management Professionals With so many customized solutions and such exceptional service...you'H feel like you’re our only client. CDR INTERNATIONAL 50 Rob@ PROFESSIONAL & TECHNICAL STAFFING • KEY PLAYER B onnie T inker Love Makes a Family Inc. Lates« In G a y Tra ve l, Fictio n G Aflore Accountability demanded To the E ditor : Everyone who attended Pride Northwest’s community meeting July 13 or read “The Wait ing Game” in the July 21 issue of Just Out is aware we have brought forth several serious complaints concerning nonprofit guideline vio lations and financial mismanagement by the board. Most of these issues are described in a for mal letter of complaint we addressed to the board of Pride Northwest. After a dissatisfying conclusion to the com munity meeting, several attendees asked that a second community meeting be held specifically to address the issues we had raised. At that time, Jack Keegan, Pride Northwest’s chair, agreed the board would consider the request. We have received word that the board of Pride Northwest has decided not to schedule another community meeting as requested. The board also has declined requests for private mediation to resolve the issues in the letter of complaint. Because Pride Northwest has tax-exempt, nonprofit status, it is owned by the community and is required to be an open, accountable and completely transparent organization. (Complete details about nonprofit organizations can be found on the Web site of the secretary of state, www.doj .state.or. us/ChariGroup.) We would like to invite the community to a meeting 6-9 p.m. Aug. 23 at Metropolitan Community Church of Portland, 2400 N.E. Broadway. We would like to fully disclose our concerns and ask the community for an appro priate resolution. To receive our list of complaints, please send a request to tamaraswan@hotmail.com. T amara S wan J anna M ac A uslan N ancy C ook Portland H a p p y Texas, Boys D o n 't C ry 4 M ore Gai-Pied 2544 NE B ro a d w a y Ph 331.1125 R ental £ Sales o n the latest titles! * Great Discounts On Our Website: www.gaipied.com ^ Monthly Conte (productive cure To the E ditor .- We appreciate Jonathan Kipp’s article expos ing the undemocratic policies and actions of the Pride Northwest board members. The concerns expressed by Jordana Sardo, who is the local organizer of Radical Women, are not new. Radical Women, a co-founder of pride cele brations in Portland, has been raising the lack of accessibility and democracy and free speech vio lations to Pride Northwest for years. We identi fy with the frustration and outrage generated by Continued on Page 7 at your local pet business or coffee shop A newspaper about dogs Beginning August 1st 5519 N E 30th Ave. • PDX, O R 97211 • (503)281-2041
