Dismantle the Group Now
(Roland Palencia. Credit: Rex Wockner.)
Let's not beat around the bush. EQCA needed to be lanced like the boil that it is upon the gay body politic a long time ago. It's nothing more than a club for A-gay Democrats good at throwing galas and receptions, contriving mostly minor legislative changes, and pretending to be representative of the diverse LGBT California community.
It has now come to pass, after months of an executive search conducted by a straight and expensive headhunting firm, and not a single damn public meeting held with the gays, the relatively new leader Roland Palencia tonight announced he's resigning. Hasta la vista, baby!
Every step of the process I kvetched about the stultifying dearth of democratic engagement that gave us Roland, and continued complaining when he assumed the helm and appeared only at restricted receptions, shunning open forums. He was lauded for being an immigrant Latino progressive gay among other qualifications that made him suitable to serve as EQCA's honcho. After barely three-months on the job, he's history.
ECQA should not and cannot be saved. It is so tainted with the rancid odor of the Prop 8 loss and the incompetency that led us to failure, while in deep fear of its very constituency - ordinary gay activists - and no mechanism for direct input, along with dozens of other substantive defects.
Good-bye, Roland. Please take EQCA with you. California gays have endured enough of EQCA's stupidity and slavish relationship with the state Democratic Party.
This is excerpted from Karen Ocamb's LGBT POV blog. Congrats, Karen, for breaking the news:
In a brief phone interview Monday night, Roland Palencia told me he was resigning as Executive Director of Equality California.
“I am stepping down. We will be having a board meeting and have a transition plan by the end of the week,” Palencia said.
Palencia called me because late this afternoon EQCA Communications Director Rebekah Orr called and cancelled a scheduled interview with me for Frontiers In LA magazine. Palencia called with an explanation.
When asked why he was stepping down, Palencia hesitated. He then agreed to go through with the interview for Frontiers, a portion of which will be posted immediately on FrontiersLA.com.
Palencia is very concerned about Equality California as an organization:
“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.”
This is a developing story…..
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