on An Hawaiian Vacation?
Lorri is away over the holidays and her email account is not accepting emails; if your matter is urgent and requires immediate Center attention, please contact Lorri’s assistant, Adriana Rosales, at arosales@lagaycenter.org or 323-993-7609.
hi guys,this message was posted this morning to towleroad.com:As a magazine run by a gay man, which has hardly been pushing an equality agenda (and often the opposite through its rock n roll macho posturing), Rolling Stone is a bit hypocritical.
Which doesn' t necessarily make the article poorly written or untrue.
As for the "tireless working", it's the big vacations -- in the middle of a campaign!! -- by the executive No on 8 that galls. They couldn't have postponed summer vacation til Nov. 5th in an election year?
I read that Lori Jean is in Hawaii this month, all month. Then after, on a sabattical to recoup her energy. Is that true? I sure as hell hope not.
Posted by: Strepsi | Dec 3, 2008 9:06:48 AM
it sounds just too far-fetched to say lorri jean in on another vacation.
please confirm that she is NOT on vacation, NOT planning a sabbatical and is hard at work at the center in LA.
regards,
michael
When no one replied, I left a few voice mails at the center, including one for Lorri Jean. No call back.
Then a friend from LA, who didn't know of my own suspicions and emails to the center, sent this message about Jean supposedly off enjoying paid leave from her $277,299 movement job:
I think she is on another 6 week vacation, but you will have to check with the LA Lesbian and Gay Center to make sure. Wouldn't you love a job where you get so much paid vacation time?
Does all this add up to absolute proof Jean is goofing off for a couple of weeks, as the rest of us pick the shattered pieces of our bruised community and began the accountability process? No, however, there's quite a bit of evidence pointing to some questions about her employment status.
And, dammit, it's long been time for Jean and the LA center to start dealing respectfully with me and their other critics, and I've given them every effort to respond to the rumor that Jean in on vacation. They've chosen to ignore my pleas for comment, along with all the other criticism and questions being leveled against them.
One 90-minute virtual town hall is not enough accountability and dialogue with Jean. She owes us more of her time to answer our questions on many matter related to her incompetence on Prop 8.
Well, until the center issues a statement regarding Jean potentially being on vacation or not, I putting the idea out there that she is not at work, for the movement, at her job. She's taking a vacation and the center doesn't know how to spin it.
Hey, LA gay center, correct me if I'm wrong and please start to engage in on-going communication with your gay critics. We're not going away.
3 comments:
I certainly hope Jean is not on "another 6-week vacation" at that salary. I worked for non-profit gay- and HIV-related organizations in Los Angeles County for over 12 years, including in executive positions, and I made far less than half of what Jean makes, and never had more than 12 paid vacation days off per year. Sure; she's a CEO of a very large (largest?) gay organization, with many vitally important programs, and a large, multi-million budget -- I grant you, that deserves a hefty salary -- but come on -- Over $200,000 a year, PLUS a month in the summer, PLUS more than a month off at the holidays, PLUS a "sabbatical" after that? At some point, Jean has to answer to her Board of Directors AND to the Center's donors AND to the community for this. All the while, "staff" like case managers and desk workers are getting a fraction in "non-profit" salary and the "standard" 2-3 weeks' vacation, and are supposed to "sacrifice for the cause"?
Michael Petrelis is not to be dismissed as some "crackpot". Despite my occasional disagreements with him, I think he is right to demand accountability to the community. I've lived and worked in this community for over 25 years, so I know what I'm talking about. Petrelis is right in questioning whether Jean should have been away on vacation for a MONTH in the weeks leading up to election day, when she was the (self-appointed?) "figurehead" in LA for the No on 8 campaign.
It's not just Petrelis who is "owed" answers by Jean and LAGLC -- it's all of us, including those of us with gay and HIV non-profit organization backgrounds AND who were substantial donors to both LAGLC and to No on 8. It's only fair to ask for significant accountability from our "leaders" if there are going to be significant "perks" like a very high salary for a non-profit and apparently an extremely generous vacation package unique to Jean among all Center employees.
Perhaps it would be better to relieve Lori Jean of her job completely so that she could vacation without those dreaded work interruptions.
Let's be honest. The Center is great--if you live in or near West Hollywood!
For the rest of us (read not wealthy white west-siders) it's barely relevant. A fact that's made very plain by the demographics of the prop 8 vote. LA is extremely spread out. Spend some resources on a presence throughout the city (and dare I say county) rather than high salaries and a beautiful building that most of us can't get to without an hour drive. Maybe a presence in east and south la neighborhoods and programs in our neighborhoods would have changed the vote. Maybe the "leaders" would have seen what the rest of us see daily if they'd left their plush protected nieghborhood.
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