#TheBlog

Pride Houston we Have a Problem^Solved?

10/29/2017

On Friday (10/20/17) a reliable source alerted me that Frankie Quijano has finally come to the end of his road with Pride Houston. On the right is a screenshot was sent of the initial notice sent to Quijano. This is long overdue as I and many others have pointed out the need for new, reliable and ethical leadership at Pride Houston. I TOLD YALL ASSES...

Judge issues restraining order:

Quijano retains counsel:

Pride Houston we Had a Problem...

This situation arises from the allegations that I wrote about on my blog S!N Blog last year. In a two part story I outlined the issues that have plagued Pride Houston with Quijano at the head of the organization. On June 29, 2016 I wrote about how a board member resigned in protest of Quijano and a source leaked it to me...

These are the issues outlined via the leaked letter:

"As far as the bylaws go, you are out of compliance with two specific laws according to the State of Texas and Texas Business Organization Code under which all Non-Profits are governed by. As the CEO of Pride Houston, Inc. for the past 13 years, you should be very much aware of these laws and it is my personal belief that you are. These are State laws and they override anything that are written within our bylaws...

A Board of Directors MUST have a President and a Secretary (Sec. 22.231). The term of an officer cannot exceed three years (Sec. 22.232). In the absence of a provision authorizing a specified term, the officers must be appointed or elected annually (Sec. 22.232).
Also, according to Section 2, the Non-Profit (the CEO) should be transparent with its financial records at all times, to its donors, board, and members (which we have none).
I know that our former treasurer asked you several times for copies of the contracts that were signed for this year’s Celebration so that he could give you a more educated guess as to our financial status. His emails went unanswered. Per our Pride Houston, Inc. bylaws, “The Chief Executive Officer may execute any deeds, mortgages, bonds, contracts, or other instruments, that the Board of Directors has authorized to be executed.” I know there are probably several dozen contracts that were executed for this year’s Celebration without the Board of Directors approval or knowledge."

"I simply cannot be part of an organization which conducts itself with such little regard for legal requirements and obligations, fiscal accountability, and the pitiful relationship that Pride Houston and you specifically have with the volunteers, sponsors, and the community at large."

I also know that there were decisions made in regard to vendors that were financially irresponsible that should have been addressed with the board prior to being made.

An example of this would be the change in vendors less than 24 hours prior to the Rock the Runway event. The vendor change resulted in costing the organization about the same amount of money as the original vendor would have to begin with, and there seems to be no logical explanation for the change in vendors.
Another example was the change in vendors for the Kidszone at Festival. Even though money was saved, the apparatuses were inappropriate for young children to play on. A mechanical bull and a rock wall are not appropriate for young children. The intent was to entertain children under the age of 10, and we were way off base. Our volunteer who was the committee chair for that area submitted an appropriate vendor and bid only to be met with resistance by yourself and you changed her entire scope without consulting her. These types of “power plays” make volunteers feel that the time that they spent putting together plans, bids, and ideas were worthless and whether or not our organization is one that they would like to work for in the future.

"The power of this organization should never lie with just one or two people, it should be a much broader range of individuals. It should also have a much wider landscape and demographic which has been missing for a long time. May I remind you, the CEO, that as with any Non-Profit Organization, the CEO/President works at the pleasure of the Board of Directors, not the other way around. The CEO answers to the Board, the Board does not answer to the CEO, and that is not how this organization runs itself. The CEO of Pride Houston, Inc. is far too involved in the everyday decision making of the organization while excluding the Board on many levels. This should never be done, as it is the Board who should be making the most major decisions and not the CEO."

Next, I would like to address is your lack of leadership from the inside out. Individuals who are on the outside see a calm, and organized group of people who all work together as a team. On the inside there is a totally different story. You demean and belittle those who want nothing more than to work for the better of the organization.

For example; On June 26th, the day of the Pride Celebration, U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee took issue with the fact that she was placed towards the back of the parade. Your logic in this was that she had not turned in her check until the Thursday before celebration. No matter when she turned in her check should not have mattered. First and most important, she is a security risk and should have been toward the front of the parade with the other high profile entries such as Mayor Turner and Representative Green. She is also a United States Congresswoman, who deserves the recognition of the office she holds, no matter what personal issues are harbored. Let me be clear once again, I did not give anyone permission for their contingency to move that day, but had I know what was going on, I probably would have, and I think the rest of the board would have agreed with my assessment of the situation.

March 28th, I sent you an email stating that I had sent you multiple messages on Facebook regarding Pride questions (those messages had spanned over a week) and that I was about to leave town for 10 days on a pre-planned family vacation. I finally resorted to sending you an email which you responded to on April 6th explaining to me that you sit on each and every Pride committee. You made it a point to tell me that you “work full time, were going to school full time, consulted full time, and volunteer for Pride full time and that you do not have the luxury of ample free time during the day/week as others might have.” {¹}

Another example that comes to mind; on March 7th I emailed you and asked for a contact at the Houston Dynamo/Dash to request tickets for a giveaway for Eden, and I did not hear back from you until March 30th {²}. At that time you told me you were working on Pride in the Park and that you would have tickets but you would keep me informed. My next email to you dated June 1st went unanswered. A 23 day turnaround time for an answer to a question from another Board member is unacceptable.

Another example of this would be the relationship with Walgreens. After the General Manager of the Montrose Store contacted the Montrose Center out of sheer frustration after trying for several weeks to get in touch with you or Mr. Sheffield to ask a simple question, he was given my number. I happened to know the answer to his question, but per your instructions, did not answer his question. You had always told us, the Board of Directors, that you were the only one that was to speak to sponsors. So, I did the best I could to keep him calm, by driving all the way to his store in Montrose and speaking to him directly, face to face, and ensuring him that I would have someone get in contact with him soon. Not only did this happen once, but it happened six (6) times between May 26th and June 18th. As you are very well aware, Walgreens is a $10,000 sponsor. Then on the day of the event, I was giving a tour to our Honorary Grand Marshal and was stopped outside the Walgreens tent and was asked why a $10,000 sponsor would be placed where they were (off the side of the main festival by the Public Library, where they were hardly seen). It was made very clear to me by the District Manager that they would be meeting and would consider dropping their sponsorship.

"Now is the time to take action, to make Pride Houston, Inc. the standard for LGBTQI organizations in the Houston area. Now is the time to make the Board of Directors truly diverse. It is time to have Lesbians, Transgender, African American, Bisexual, Allies, and other demographics represented to help make decisions that are truly inclusive of all. After the Juneteenth “issue” in 2015, there was to be a “Diversity Committee” and when I tried to put one together at the first volunteer meetings in September and October of 2015, I was told to “hold off” on building that committee and that it would be addressed at a later date. That never happened."

TRANSLATION: Frankie Quijano you need to resign!

State law mandates the organization has a president and a secretary. He has refused to allow a secretary to be elected citing one was not needed.
Frankie Quijano has never presented nor prepared a budget for the fiscal year for the Board of Directors.
Pride Houston bylaws state that Frankie Quijano is allowed to enter into contracts with the permission of the Pride board. The Pride board must see the contracts and approve the contracts. The Pride board has never seen a contract.
Frankie Quijano does not allow the Pride board to have any contact with any sponsor.
Frankie Quijano does not allow the Pride board to make any statements to the media. That is his sole responsibility.
Frankie Quijano does not allow the Pride board to be involved with the everyday workings of the Pride Celebration committees because he says the Pride board cannot be trusted not to interfere with their work.
Frankie Quijano makes it very difficult to work with Pride as he is constantly making remarks such as "that person doesn't bring anything valuable to this organization."
Frankie Quijano has little to no regard for the Lesbian, Transgender, African American, or Ally communities. Gay men are all that is needed."

Pride Houston Bylaws (2016)

On July 5, 2016 We still had a problem...

The following is from the second story... Quihano responded to the allegations via Facebook:

Under Quijano Pride Houston responded to the allegations by posting a response on the Pride website:

Quijano Attempts to maintain power....

Note that while these public statements caught everyone's attention, Quijano was attempting to convene a secret meeting to hand pick new board members to fill in the vacancies from resignations, while remaining president. People were pissed, Quijano invited folks he didnt realize wanted him to resign. This source sent screenshoots of the meeting the Quijano organized on Facebook.

" On the condition of anonymity I received this:

"He has hand picked certain people, 20 in particular, to invite to this meeting. He is hand picking not to validate, but to remain in control of Pride Houston. THE EVENT is marked private so you will not be able to see it (https://www.facebook.com/events/561555650714946/?ti=cl) << that is the event link and you will not be able to open it. IT SHOULD be an open meeting which the community should and could attend but again, Frankie made it invitation only and set it as a private event that no one can see. It is what it is but I do know that 13 years as president is enough!"

Screenshots: "Do you see any diversity? Any African American? maybe one, lol BS!!! These are handpicked people!"

A Fifth vote??? (there was a lot of chatter about this.)

The current status of Pride Houston according to Outsmart Magazine...

Pride Houston Inc. is suing former President and CEO Francisco “Frankie” Quijano, alleging that he’s refused to relinquish control of the nonprofit organization’s business assets since being replaced Oct. 1, according to Harris County district court records.

Pride Houston and its new president, Lorin Roberts, further allege in their lawsuit that Quijano has harassed and threatened current board members, and undermined their work by contacting volunteers and vendors. Filed Oct. 23 in Harris County’s 127th Civil District Court, the lawsuit also names as a defendant Quijano’s husband, Abijah Kratochvil, who’s accused of acting in concert with him.

Quijano served as president and CEO of Pride Houston—which puts on the annual LGBTQ parade and festival in June—from 2008 until 2017, according to the plaintiffs’ original complaint. Pride Houston’s board of directors elected Roberts to replace Quijano, and her term began Oct. 1.

“As president of Pride Houston, Quijano had control over all the organization’s assets in the form of accounts associated with Pride Houston Inc., including bank accounts, credit card accounts, social media accounts, email accounts and the organization’s website,” the complaint states. “Since the new president’s term began, Quijano has refused to relinquish the assets to the incoming president, Lorin Roberts, and has withheld information from the current board members to prevent them from accessing the business assets in the form of accounts.”

Angie Olalde, the attorney representing Quijano and Kratochvil, declined to discuss the case.

“At this time I can only refer you to the pleadings on file, as both parties have been temporarily directed to maintain confidentiality,” Olalde said in an email.

Judge R.K. Sandill has granted the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order. The order requires Quijano to provide Pride Houston board members with passwords and other information needed to access the organization’s accounts. It also prohibits Quijano from accessing the accounts himself; contacting board members, volunteers, sponsors or vendors; entering into or cancelling contracts; or acting in any way on behalf of Pride Houston.

The next hearing in the case—on the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary injunction—is set for Tuesday, Oct. 31, court records indicate.

According to the restraining order, the plaintiffs and defendants will enter into a confidentiality agreement related to to the transition in leadership from Quijano to Roberts. The agreement will bar them from discussing the transition or publishing disparaging, derogatory, or adverse comments. READ ORIGINAL POST HERE