The board of Tucson Pride in Arizona recently announced that it has not only cancelled the group’s upcoming Pride Festival but also is dissolving the entire organization amid financial challenges.

“This decision was not made lightly,” the board wrote in a statement on the Tucson Pride website. “We recognize the deep importance Tucson Pride has held in our community since 1977, serving as a space of visibility, advocacy, celebration, and resilience for nearly five decades. We are profoundly grateful to every volunteer, sponsor, artist, activist, and community member who has supported Tucson Pride throughout its history.”

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The note was brief and concluded by thanking the LGBTQ+ community and allies for “unwavering support, passion, and commitment over the years.” It did not explain why the board chose to shutter, but activists in the community told The Arizona Daily Star that Tucson Pride has struggled financially since former president Jimmy West was caught embezzling from the organization in 2017.

Events continued due to fundraising by impassioned supporters, but, according to Rick Morey-Wolfe, who has been involved with Tucson Pride since 2017, the current board has squandered money on things the community doesn’t want.

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“The community has been very steadfast about not hiring high-end, expensive headliners and featuring local talent,” Morey-Wolfe said. “And for some reason, this specific group of people has continued to ignore that year after year, which has created debt year after year, and that’s pretty much the bottom line.”

Morey-Wolfe told the Daily Star he has cried multiple times since hearing about the organization’s closure. Local LGBTQ+ activist Scott Blades added he was “really surprised.”

The announcement of the closure on Facebook has garnered almost 700 comments. “Totally heartbreaking for the community!” someone said. “This visibility is so important.”

Many also communicated their anger at the board for giving up rather than figuring out how to reorganize or explaining to the community what the problems are so they can try to solve them. “I’m deeply disappointed and disgusted by this lack of candor and accountability!” one person wrote.

“The newly appointed Board owes the community an overview of their rationale for this decision,” another added, “especially given the history and longevity of the organization in our community (not to mention our national and global Pride history) as well as what will take its place going forward and when.”

Some folks, however, expressed excitement about the opportunity to build something stronger in its place.

“Let’s start a new organization,” one commenter declared. “Sometimes we have to allow things to go in order to make something bigger and better.”

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