Dear Editor:

Return Your Bonuses

Mr. Ken St. Pierre got a new job at a local media company. Good for him and best of luck and best of wishes for amazing and successful days to come his way! However, how come he has not returned his fat bonus back to Pride yet?! All the noise and angry words and emotions that St. Pierre and his circle of friends engulfed the community in for the last month about Pride being in desperate need of funds suddenly stopped when St. Pierre got a new job? Where are Cartwright, Nicole, Redondo and many others who have been screaming bloody mary since early January that NO bonuses should have been doled out, period? Princeta returned his bonus in full back to Pride on January 8, but Redondo, St. Pierre and Ron deHarte to this day REFUSE to return one dime back to Pride! Suddenly Nicole, Cartwright and others are ‘moms the word’ about bonuses now that the only ones left with fat bonuses in their pockets are Redondo, deHarte and St. Pierre. It sounds like we may have two, three or more classes of human beings here in San Diego’s LGBT community. Why, you ask? Well, since the argument was that in a bad economy folks are out of jobs and no bonuses should be given out by non-profits, then how come Cartwright, Nicole and others are now making an exception only for St. Pierre, Redondo and deHarte and not demanding that their bonuses get returned? What an exponential level of hypocrisy this community has! Nicole, are you taking notice? Todd Gloria, are you taking notice? We know that you, Todd, are good friends with Ken St. Pierre, but can you perhaps try and be somewhat impartial? Senator Kehoe, are you OK with some bonus monies being returned to Pride but turning a blind eye to the rest? Toni Atkins, what say you? Mr. Ken St. Pierre held a huge sign himself on 01/22/10 that demanded Princeta returned the bonus. I guess no one had told St. Pierre that Priceta had already returned the money two weeks prior to the 01/22 angry street protest in Mission Valley . St. Pierre , Redondo and former Co-Chair Anne Hewitt among others broke the law and trespassed into the Sheraton Hotel in Mission Valley on 01/22/10 and disrupted a national LGBT conference hosted by San Diego Pride. I still believe that you, Nicole, do have a sense of fairness and decency to at least point out to all parties involved that the same level of community expectations and demands apply equally to all, and to not let this issue of fairness be swept under the rug, no? We ask the heterosexual community to treat us as their equal in all aspects of life and not have any ‘special’ rules for us. Can’t Princeta, St. Pierre, Redondo and deHarte all be EQALLY treated when it comes to the expectations of our community that ALL bonuses be returned to Pride? Nicole, are you listening? Toni Atkins, Christine Kehoe and Todd Gloria, what say you? You are so awfully quiet. Thank you.

Lenny Feinberg

San Diego, CA