06/16/2026
WHERE IS THE MONEY?
Producing events is a legitimate business. Performers getting paid is fine, promoters and producers and venues making money is fine. After all, you expect to pay to go to a concert or a ballgame or even a drag show.
What isn't fine is when an event is promoted as a fundraiser or non-profit community event or non profit organization but doesn't come clean about who is handling the money, accounting for the money and reposting to the community how much was spent and on what and then who got the "proceeds."
For over a decade I warned the community about the lack of transparency at Tucson Pride as they failed to abide by the law, failed to file taxes and failed to provide any accountability --- ending up as we know with embezzlement, fraud and ultimately bankruptcy.
We, as a community, should have learned our lesson and need to demand better.
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This past weekend saw "OUTWEST," an event touted as an event for the community at Old Tucson Studios. That's a great idea and anything that brings the community together is a positive in my book and I want to support it.
But here is where I have a problem with it: On Facebook "OUTwest" is listed as a "non profit orgnanization" with every piece of marketing touting it as a community celebration with funds benefiting the community. It touted a plethora of "sponsoring organizations" in town, including SAAF, Fluxx Studios, Tucson Q***r Story, the gay chamber and the Alliance Fund. It gave vague reference to an organization called "C.A.R.E." being behind it and even said an event called "Pride on the Avenue" was helping to underwrite discounted tickets (which is Interesting since that event was also produced by this supposed CARE organization and meant to benefit the community).
Unless someone can prove otherwise, "C.A.R.E." does not exist and is not legit. It is Michael Kern (a.k.a the drag performer Jessica Michaels) who, according to a friend who contacted him about this, said he was not putting his name on anything because "it is about and for the community, not me."
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It all sounds magnanimous and Michael might have had genuinely good intentions...but I am calling bu****it and demanding both an explanation and a detailed accounting.
Why? Because yesterday an article appeared in The Tucson Sentinel quoting Michael as saying that Bisbee Pride was the "non profit fiduciary" behind both CARE and the event, which is curious since nowhere in all of the promotional materials and write ups is Bisbee Pride ever mentioned or does their logo ever appear.
I spoke to a friend of mine who is a boardmember of Bisbee Pride and asked him about it. It seemed strange to me because last year I was contacted by Bisbee Pride asking if I knew anything about a group in Tucson calling itself "C.A.R.E." which was asking them to act as a fiduciary. I was told the board had turned the request down. My friend checked his notes and confirmed to me that the board met on April 20, 2025 and did in fact vote the idea down. To make sure, he called another board member who was at the same meeting and she confirmed it as well.
So something does not smell right here.
Bisbee Pride has a record of terrible mismanagement and financial recklessness so it could be that the President of Bisbee Pride went behind the back of his own board or it could be that the Treasurer of Bisbee Pride is doing something shady ---- or Michael Kern is trying to appear as a non-profit when in fact he is not.
This is what seems to be clear however:
• no online ticket sales or cash went through the Bisbee Pride account or the Old Tucson ticketing operation
• the Bisbee Pride Board did not approve of or know anything about the event
• no one from Bisbee Pride was even at the event
• Bisbee pride has provided no governance or oversight
So who counted cash sales at the door go and how many tickets were sold (Michael claims in the article that 600 attended meaning $15,00-$20,000 in gross receipts), where did all this sponsor money from local nonprofit groups and vendors go?
Who exactly are we supposed to be trusting to insure that funds are not misused or even stolen? And, if the money did not go through the Bisbee Pride books, then how can this in anyway whatsoever be considered a non-profit (tax deductible) enterprise?
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I am sick and tired of promoters and organizations in our community wrapping themselves in the rainbow flag, saying things benefit the community, and then never being transparent about who is watching the money and never reporting the results.
Our community deserves some answers and I am calling on both Michael Kern and Bisbee Pride President/CEO Ramon Garcia to come clean and clear this up NOW.
