On Jan. 14, OUT Central Oregon, an LGBTQ advocacy group, posted a statement on its website announcing the departure of founders Jamie Nesbitt and Richard Scharfenberg, saying the nonprofit would seek new leadership going forward. The day before, BendFilm announced it was pausing its partnership with OCO to host OUT in Focus, a film festival that would have focused on LGBTQ stories. BendFilm said in the statement that it doesn't condone or endorse racism in any form. And in the days before that, R.J. Quiris, a former president of OCO, accused members of the organization of harassment and making racist comments.
The founders apologized for their conduct in a since-deleted social media post on OCO's page, and days later, the organization introduced its new board members in another now-deleted social media post. The apology and new leadership did little to stymie the stream of criticism toward the organization — which claimed OCO systemically centered white, wealthy, cisgendered gay men and failed to reach the broader LGBTQ community.
"For specific people, or specific identities, I found a lot of really great relationships through being part of OUT Central Oregon," liliana cabrera, a founding board member of OUT Central Oregon told the Source Weekly. "The community responded in ways that did seem to want to have more clear visibility. But it all functions within structures that perpetuated harm, and not just harm as an outcome, but from poor practices that continue the erasure of people like me, who don't have a lot of money, who are not white or cisgender."
OCO hosted a Queer Community Town Hall on Feb. 8 to address the controversy. The plan was to start the meeting with a community listening session in which people could speak freely about what they felt the organization could do better, before moving onto several agenda items. The town hall never got to the agenda, the listening session became contentious and many attendees walked out frustrated with the lack of common ground found.
"My expectations as a moderator were to have a community conversation with queer folks from many different backgrounds," said Rita Schenkelberg, a former Bend city councilor who moderated the town hall. "It became very clear that that was not what it was going to be — it was going to be pretty chaotic."
The day after the event, Quiris revealed that he'd originally helped plan the town hall which was scheduled for Jan. 29. Quiris said he was told the board needed more time to hire a moderator and to avoid doing the event as a crisis response in a now-deleted social media post. Though he was originally scheduled to speak at the event, Quiris said he only heard about the town hall through social media posts.
"Originally, yes, we planned to have it on the 29th, but we quickly realized this was no easy event. There was a lot of healing that needed to occur, and the event itself needed more purposeful planning and time to make sure the proper steps were put in place for a successful outcome for our community. More time and passion needed to be in place," Brayan Gonzalez, one of the new OCO board members, said in an email.
Gonzalez got involved with OCO as a volunteer before joining the board after the change in leadership in January. Gonzalez grew up in Bend when there weren't organizations that promoted inclusive LGBTQ events. In an email, he highlighted work OCO has done with Winter Pride Fest to promote visibility of the LGBTQ community, partnerships with Deschutes County Health to provide medical care for vulnerable populations and work done with Bend-La Pine Schools and Bend Park and Recreation District to create events for LGBTQ youth — but also acknowledged OCO had issues that need to be resolved.
"We also must acknowledge the organization's shortcomings. In the way it was run in the past, and how in trying to 'do right,' it was in some instances having the reverse effect. Moving forward, the future of OCO will be different, and the organization will do things with the community's best interests at the core of any and every decision it makes," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said OCO is going back to basics and is restructuring to amplify voices that were underrepresented in OCO's past. He said the old OCO board was a reflection of what Bend was like when it was founded a decade ago, but that he still sees a need for an organization like OCO in a town like Bend where there are no explicitly LGBTQ spaces. Those critical of the organization, however, view the systemic deficiencies in OCO as insurmountable and have suggested the nonprofit dissolve and allocate funding to other queer groups.
"The OCO community hasn't made good use of its opportunities to learn and do better — the board and otherwise. The way that members of OCO have acted out is a reflection of a larger problem that OCO did not create, but did and does participate in, and continues to perpetuate. Racism, ableism, elitism, sexism and more that are present in the organization and broader community have been the most harmful and what I think led to this point," cabrera said. cabrera expanded on issues of racism, ablism and elitism in OCO in a letter titled “we deserve better.”
The schism in the community led to some people, sponsors and organizations to back away from OCO as it approaches Winter PrideFest, historically its biggest event. Gonzalez said many of those relationships have been mended, and after speaking with affected community members, almost every sponsor and partner is again helping the organization put on Winter PrideFest. Though OUT in Focus Film Festival is paused, OCO is still working with Tower Theatre to screen films, and a festival may still eventually happen. He said going forward, he wants OCO events to be community-driven and accountable in ways the old OCO was not. But many of those who have been critical of OCO are skeptical of its path forward.
"Reconciliation and restoration function under the assumption that there was something solid and safe and healthy to begin with. I do believe in like, restorative practices. But again, what are we restoring? I would like to have a path towards something better, something that people are committed to being in good relationship, and doing what they need to do, individually, collectively, collaboratively." cabrera said.
