Jessica Cejnar Andrews / Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022 @ 4:52 p.m. / Community, Local Government
Opposed To Its Anti-Colonialism Stance, Del Norte Supervisors Kill Queer Humboldt Contract, Leaving LGBTQ Resource Project Without a Fiscal Sponsor
Documents:
###
A local therapist is figuring out how to keep the Del Norte County LGBTQ Resource Project alive after county supervisors took issue with the fiscal sponsor, Queer Humboldt.
Thomas Kelem said the Del Norte County LGBTQ Resource Project would be a database of supports and programs both inside and outside the community. Other than Safe Space at the United Methodist Church of Crescent City and a sporadic Gay-Straight Alliance at Del Norte High School, there aren’t many services for the LGBTQIA+ community, he told the Wild Rivers Outpost.
But after supervisors balked at Queer Humboldt’s stance as an “anti-racist, anti-colonialist resource center,” and refused to vote on a proposed contract with the nonprofit, Kelem said he’s wondering what to do next.
“It’s certainly something that I am committed to in a lot of ways and have already started,” he said of the Del Norte County LGBTQ Resource Project. “I kind of need to decide what I’m going to do to pursue that — if I’m going to do it as a project on my own or if I’m going to try to find another nonprofit to take it on.”
Kelem is a mental health clinician with Queer Humboldt, according to that organization’s website. He told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that he supervises other mental health providers at Queer Humboldt.
On Tuesday, District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey made the motion to approve the $15,000 agreement with Queer Humboldt, pointing out a Mental Health Service Act Plan public stakeholder process determined the LGBTQ Resource Project was needed. Starkey’s motion died due to the lack of a second.
According to Starkey, the proposed resource project was part of the county’s 2022-23 Mental Health Service Act Plan that she and her colleagues approved in June. The money that will pay for the project is coming from state MHSA dollars, she said.
Approved by California voters in 2004, the Mental Health Services Act established a 1 percent income tax on those making in excess of $1 million per year to expand the state’s behavioral health system to serve those at risk or who have serious mental health issues.
The Del Norte County LGBTQ Resource Project aims to reduce the mental health stigma for the local community, Health and Human Services Director Ranell Brown told supervisors. Kelem needed a fiscal sponsor since he’s not a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Brown told supervisors. Queer Humboldt would not manage the project, she said.
The year-long project’s goal is to reach more than 1,500 people. Kelem said he didn’t know the estimated size of Del Norte’s community was, but there are more who identify as LGBTQ than people think.
County supervisors got their first look at the Queer Humboldt contract on Oct. 25, four months after they approved Del Norte’s 2022-23 MHSA Plan that included creation of the LGBTQ Resource Project. They voted it down by a 3-2 vote with Starkey and then-District 5 Supervisor Susan Masten approving the plan.
At that meeting, District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short took issue at the “about us” section on Queer Humboldt’s website, which mentions Black Lives Matter, feminism, body positivity and just immigration. He said it reads like a political activist group and asked if there were other organizations the county could partner with to sponsor the LGBTQ Resource Project.
Brown said Queer Humboldt was the only nonprofit that stepped up to the plate.
On Tuesday, in response to the same question from District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard, Kelem said he didn’t know.
“The reason I reached out to Queer Humboldt is they are a part of the LGBTQ community,” he said. “I was aware of them and that seemed like a really good fit to me.”
Howard said he felt Queer Humboldt’s website makes statements that he doesn’t think are conducive to the kind of advocacy Kelem seeks to establish in Del Norte County. Howard particularly took issue with the nonprofit’s statement about pledging to “dismantle settler-colonialism” through its work.
Kelem said he wasn’t sure what Queer Humboldt meant by that statement, but pointed out they provide necessary and needed services. He also pointed out that while they’re aware of the project and would provide a link to his database, Queer Humboldt will have no control over it.
“Do you feel it’s important to agree with all of the philosophies of all of the organizations you provide funding for?” Kelem asked. “I haven’t read all of the websites of all of the other organizations that get grants and funding so I don’t know what they say. I’m sure you might not agree with everything they say, but you still see that they do really good work and they’re important to the community and we all have to work together.”
Howard continued to press his point.
“I think this Board would love to have you provide this service to our community through a separate 501(c)(3) vehicle,” Howard said. “But when they pledge on their website to dismantle the very thing that allows you to exist and allows us to fund your services to this community, I think it has a little hypocrisy there that I’d like to address and point out.”
During public comment, resident Sam Strait questioned if the county really needed to contract with an outside agency “for basic resource management.”
“Where does the county actually have the responsibility to do some of this work rather than contracting it out,” Strait asked. “Surely the $15,000 you’re talking about could be used within the county to employ a person to do that work rather than contract it out. It’s not rocket science to provide a database.”
Shiann Hoglin, who works with the Behavioral Health Branch, said they provide services to anyone and the point of the LGBTQ Resource Project was to reduce stigma and and prevent suicide.
“We have a significant impact locally with children with suicide attempts because of varying things related to the LGBTQ population with issues they deal with,” she said. “I feel like time and time again, we’ve heard of the importance from the community about it and I hope the board would support it. It’s a one-year project and we’ve already missed six months of the project because of delays.”
Norma Williams, president of the Del Norte County Employee Association, said she’s the mother of a gay man. Even if Kelem has to find another fiscal sponsor, Williams said this information is necessary to people like her son who don’t feel a part of Del Norte County.
Williams said her son came out as a teenager and she didn’t feel there was anyone in Del Norte that she could go to for support. She said she still feels like there are no resources for herself or her son.
“I see my boy, not his sexual orientation, but my boy,” Williams said. “And if there’s anything this community, this department can offer this segment, this important segment of our community, then it is a duty and an obligation to provide it; otherwise, quite frankly, you’re all hypocrites and you shouldn’t be serving.”
CLICK TO MANAGE