News just broke that the local pride org (Arctic Pride) has been dissolved by its corrupt parent org (FRI).
FRI claims to be a national org and since they're the Main Queer Org, every time a bank or whatever wants to donate money to a queer org, they're the ones who get the donation. Claiming they cover the entire country also means they get a shitton of grants and the like, too. But they don't do anything in the north. Never have. Nothing north of Trondheim (which is located about 1/3 up the country)
So there's a local foundation owned by FRI that organises Pride and everything else, but they have to do everything on their own with no money, and while the rest of the country has a network of queer cafes and daily events like pool/sauna trips for trans folks, queer hikes, support groups for parents, in all major cities, we.. don't have any of those things, because FRI doesn't give a shit.
On FRI's website there was an old banner for Arctic Pride 2021 up for 4 years, just to give you an idea of how neglectful they are. All while they claim to be the bestest and greatest queer org in the country and syphon up any and all donations from anyone wanting to support queer people.
And now during their yearly general meeting said local org asked to be given more freedom to act independently in order to better, you know, get shit done, only to realise during said meeting that their item had been removed from the docket without notice. Just. Removed.
Denied even the right to suggest a change.
At which they turned to the local paper and went, FRI consists of family members and friends, they're corrupt and acting shady AF. Few days later, 3/5 board members of said local org have been removed without warning, and 2 more left in protest.
One of the people they tossed out was funnily enough my music teacher as a kid, a lady who manages a massive local music festival. She's talented and experienced and has so many connections around the city and it local communities and they just tossed her.
Along with everyone else representing various minorities which they are legally supposed to have on that board.
Press release from parent org: "Going forward, we will prioritize building relationships, restoring trust where needed, and ensuring good cooperation between the organizations. Trust is built over time, and we take that responsibility seriously, it continues."
The irony here is laughable. For years they've never been present during Pride, never given us any of the support we need, neglected us completely, and now they're scrambling because they might lose a bit of funding from losing their northern branch.
Meanwhile, the most neglected of queer people in the country lose everything we've built from scratch.
