OPINION
#OrangeistheNewPink
Why I no longer believe this organization & company to be LGBTQ+ allies.
Excerpt from a document I was presented with for my signature. (Warning: Homophobia lives in this document)
“Staff noted
in the message that even though staff’s religious beliefs are against resident’s
sexual orientation that has never led to staff treating or saying anything to
purposefully make resident feel that their lifestyle was wrong and staff advocates
for what is right not what their religious orientation subscribes to. Again
resident took staff’s words to mean that staff was discriminating against him
on moral grounds and that staff felt morally superior to him.”
The Facts & Analysis Behind Pinky Penmark’s withdrawal of Support for FirmlyEstablished, Inc. & Holistic Coaching
"I am confident that if local leaders and business are made aware of my experience that they will reconsider partnering with FirmlyEstablished, Inc. or Holistic Coaching if presented the opportunity to partner with them in the future."
The Timeline
On May 28, 2019, I moved into a property managed by HolisticCoaching and under its corresponding program and handbook rules as I began
rebuilding my life after a long illness. I shared the house with two other men and
at times three other men.
Three months later I transitioned
into more independent living when I moved by myself into the converted garage
apartment behind the main house on the same property.
In the beginning the leadership of Holistic Coaching, a for-profit company in
St. Pete, seemed personable, and I felt like these properties and its program
were going to be a good fit for me.
Soon after I began living there, I learned that the same
leadership also ran a nonprofit organization named Firmly Established, Inc,
and its mission was to serve at-risk children and families in Pinellas County. I was quickly interested in seeing if I could
find a way to help this organization fulfill its mission.
Those of you that are familiar with me know for the past decade I have volunteered extensively for local non-profits including
ASAP, now Empath Partners in Care (EPIC)
and Tampa Bay AIDS Walk in addition to serving as Operations Manager for St Pete Pride for a couple years.
In a wild twist of events after I created the Pinky Penmark
character, a character intended to be a one-night appearance at the MetroInclusive Health Gala, I was asked to bring Pinky back as the Host of Bingo4Charity at Punky’s Bar and Grill.
The idea scared the hell out of me before I embraced it as an
opportunity to continue my work raising funds and awareness for local non-profits.
Thus, the Pinky Penmark character returned, and I continued to
host Bingo4Charity at Punky’s for approximately a year and a half until my illness rendered me unable to continue.
During that time Pinky had organically evolved into a pinkypenmark.com, this blog , and many social media followers.
When I had learned that the leadership of Holistic Coaching
also ran the non-profit Firmly Established, Inc. I immediately told them about my
Bingo4Charity days and suggested that I schedule a Bingo Event at Punky’s to
benefit the organization. I decided I
would make a return appearance of Pinky along with its current host in order to
raise funds for the organization.
Everyone at Firmly Established seemed on board and excited
for the event which was held in August of 2019.
The event was successful, and we scheduled another bingo at Punky’s at which Pinky made another return appearance in December of 2019.
During the months in between, I also began volunteering a
couple days a week at the Firmly Established, Inc. offices and even went out on
a limb to set up events for them in partnership with a local HIV/AIDS Service Organization. I suggested the organization reserve a booth
at Come Out St Pete at which I would also work in October 2019.
I eventually stopped my volunteer work with them because I
felt their volunteer expectations were no longer comfortable to me which inspired a previous blogpost “Re-affirming My Boundaries & Reclaiming Myself”. The
parting was amicable enough, and we even scheduled another bingo event at Punky’s
in April 2020 in which Pinky would again make a special appearance. The COVID-19 crisis forced the cancellation
of that event.
The Document
Even before COVID-19 intervened, I had made the decision to
cancel Pinky’s appearance at the April event based on the feeling I was forced to sign
the document referenced above in order to keep a roof over my head. Below is an actual image of the text of that
portion of the document I felt coerced into signing. The full document including signatures is available
by request.
 |
| Actual image of the document presented to me by Firmly Establisded, Inc. staff for my signature |
