San Diego LGBT Pride, Inc. has been accused of violating their fiduciary duties, as a few months ago the five member board of Pride voted to give its board president Phillip Princetta a $5K gift for his "involvement and leadership" in Pride. This controversial action immediately resulted in two of the five remaining board members resigning. They cited their complete lack of confidence in the leadership of the Pride Board.

When executive director Ron deHarte was informed about this gift, he immediately objected, stating that the community would not support such actions. He asked that Princetta immediately return the gift and suggested that Princetta should step down for having received the monies.

deHarte said under the "whistleblowers" act that he requested a face to face meeting with Princetta and that the community would object. Princetta said that he would take deHarte's advice into consideration and in the meantime, Princetta cashed the check within 24 hours of receiving it.

The distressed deHarte reached out to Pride's retained legal counsel, who supported his demand for the return of the $5K. deHarte then outreached to three community leaders for guidance and support. In the meantime, the Pride executive director received an e-mail from Princetta that San Diego Pride should have a representative at Mardi Gras, Sydney's Pride, and inquired if funds were available to send a representative.

deHarte informed Princetta that he felt this was not a good idea and he could not justify such an expense in his opinion. Upon being informed about the $5K gift the staff of San Diego Pride also expressed their objection to the board's action. In another disturbing development it has been learned that the remaining three Pride Board of Directors has started a process and it has been put to committee vote to overturn the board member term limits so that the can serve on the board indefinitely. When the Pride board members learned that deHarte had reached out to others regarding this gift, they walked into the Pride offices, fired deHarte on the spot and escorted him out of the building. Community leaders and activist are discussing a town hall meeting and there are discussions for community members to picket the Pride offices, calling for Princetta to return the gift and the entire board to resign.

GLTNewNow.com will keep you informed about the latest news. Read deHarte's entire letter here and look for the full story in the Gay & Lesbian Times on Thursday.