For the past week, San Diego Pride has been at the center of a controversy that has threatened to tear our communities apart. We acknowledge the pain, anguish and anger everyone has experienced on all sides of this controversy – our supporters and our detractors, ourselves, and those at the heart of the storm.

We say outright and with all due respect: “We misjudged our communities.” For that, as a board, we take full responsibility. In our zeal not to give in to gay-baiting and not to trample on individual rights, we overlooked our communities’ very real fears and concerns for personal safety and psychological comfort. Not unlike the larger communities of San Diego and beyond in which we live, work and play, members of our LGBT communities tapped into the overriding sentiment about the issue of sex offenders and their role in our society that translates into zero tolerance on this issue – regardless of case particularities or individual circumstances.

When we fully realized the strength of your fears and concerns – and understood the potential for violence our actions could unleash against our communities – we made a decision to balance our personal and organizational commitment to civil rights, equal rights, and individual rights with pragmatism and political realism. We heard the rising tide of discontent with our actions, and accepted the resignation of the individuals in question in order to advance the broader goals of the upcoming event, our organization and our communities.

Did we ultimately make the right decision?

In the ways that we’ve heard count most to our communities, we believe the answer is yes.

We have ended the source of this year’s controversy, and we are adopting a screening process to ensure that it will not occur again. Such a process will require time for studied analysis and legal input and review, as well as for the development of implementation strategies. Through our commitment to this corrective course of action, we deflated our enemy’s public rationale for disrupting this year’s celebration of Pride, and we averted the walkout of some longtime friends and members of our own communities.

That is all very important.

Yet, like our theme this year, what has transpired in the past few days is cause for action, reflection and celebration: “Equal Rights: No More, No Less.”

As we aspire to reach the goal this slogan represents, let us not lose ourselves in the process – and let us not confuse that which is politically expedient with that which is morally right.

In the days that led up to the event, we learned from our outside detractors that we must rise to a higher standard than other organizations. In spite of their rhetoric and vitriol, we learned that lesson from them. We learned from our friends and supporters that we must act diligently and timely in the midst of a crisis.

While searching our own hearts and souls in an effort to reconcile conflicting thoughts and feelings with the pain experienced by those on all sides of the controversy, we realized there could be no compromise on this issue. That lesson we learned from ourselves – as the board of directors of San Diego Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride – and we are better and stronger for it.

Let all of us now redouble our efforts to be open and honest, to confront our own values and ideals – individually, as a community of friends, and in the larger community in which we live. Let us resolve to work together as leaders in this community, even when that leadership is confronted by extraordinary circumstances and conflicting views.

As a board, we call on everyone to continue the dialogue, to discuss our different views and values, and to begin the healing as well. Let us approach each other with our own measure of humility, and let us strive to keep our hearts and minds open to our own ability to be human, to err, to struggle and to grow. Together, we will live up to this year’s theme and to our mission to create safe communities that are healthier as a result of our efforts.

As leaders, we acknowledge this: We can only do the very best we can, the very best we know how. And when we fall short of that, we know this community will point that out to us, hold us accountable, demand that we meet the highest of standards and expectations, and work with us to strive to do even better in the future. We expect no less for ourselves or for our fellow community leaders.