The San Francisco-based Gay-Straight Alliance Network (GSA Network) has recently been subject to public scrutiny as knowledge of a labor lawsuit--filed in December against the Network by former Program Director Monica Ann Arrambide--has been widely circulating via email, social networking websites, and word-of-mouth.

"This lawsuit is shining a light on the internal practices that are occurring at GSA Network at this time--similar practices that staff during my tenure with the organization, and staff before me experienced," former staff member Ruth Obel-Jorgenson stated in a letter dated January 22 to the board of directors.

In the last four years, more than ten GSA Network staff members like Arrambide and Obel-Jorgenson, the majority of which were people of color and/or gender variant, have been fired or resigned, allegedly due to the actions of Executive Director, Carolyn Laub.

The laundry list of damages--including violation of labor code section 970, wrongful termination, promissory fraud and deceit, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, and intentional infliction of emotional distress--is stunning to many in the community and across the country, as the GSA Network is a well-known social justice organization that prides itself on being a youth-driven vehicle for leadership development in the queer youth movement.

"It is time for the board of this organization to take a deeper, more objective look at the future of the GSA Network and the impact it will have on the movement," Obel-Jorgenson explained.

"Momentum is building because the community is concerned about the future of the queer youth movement," stated Obel-Jorgensen. "The labor practices at GSA Network are not conducive to building a high-impact social justice nonprofit, and they contradict the organization's mission of building leaders. This ultimately impacts the entire movement, all the way up to the struggle for marriage equality."

The plaintiff in the lawsuit, Arrambide, a queer person of color who has worked in the field for over fifteen years, was fired shortly after a month on the job with GSA Network after a series of squabbles and varying differences in opinion with Laub.

Former Director of Youth Leadership and Programming for Out Youth of Austin, Texas, Arrambide spent fifteen years working within the LGBT community as an activist and organizer, lead coordinator and project manager, coupled with years in grassroots mobilization and collaboration.

Arrambide was offered a Program Director position at the San Francisco-based GSA Network in late September 2008, which required her to relocate from her home in Texas.

When Arrambide arrived for her first day of work on November 6, she saw a large sign that read "Welcome Monica Ann" over a corner cubicle in the back of the office. Court documents indicate that she was "confused" because she was told that she would be given a better office, due to her high-ranking position.

The following day, Arrambide was told by GSA Network staff that the corner cubicle was a prank and then showed her to her real office. Arrambide was, according to the documents, "very hurt" by this joke. Arrambide was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

Later, during a staff meeting regarding the Network's tenth anniversary party, Arrambide expressed concern that the staff would be drinking in front of attending youth. Laub took offense to Arrambide's opposing remarks, saying, "I'm going to have a glass of wine, because in every culture I know, they use alcohol to honor a celebration."

During the next few weeks, Laub and Arrambide continued to disagree about various issues, and Arrambide's approach to work--leading to Arrambide's termination from the GSA Network and, ultimately, the pending lawsuit.

Laub, who founded the GSA Network in 1998, and has been awarded numerous fellowships as a social entrepreneur and LGBT community leader, was recently described by former Community Organizer at GSA Network, Sean Saifa Wall as "generally discriminatory, but more specifically, racist, ageist, trans-phobic, and disempowering."

Like Arrambide and Obel-Jorgenson, Wall is adamant in exposing Laub's rumored-to-be unsavory reputation, as well as her pecuniary relationship with the Network's board members. Laub was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

A board meeting was held on Saturday, January 24, where it was hoped that concerns about Laub would be addressed. The board has yet to respond. The next full board meeting is scheduled for March 21.

"Three of the five adult board members are employees of Genentech, a biotechnology corporation," Wall explained. "We feel the adult board members are overpowering and dismissing the voices of the youth and are operating as a top down corporation rather than a youth leadership social justice nonprofit."

Supporters are hoping for more accountability in the face of this lawsuit as GSA's board of directors has dismissed concerns raised about Laub by staff in the past.

"The GSA Network was founded on the ideals of nurturing a youth-led GSA movement that has, because of constant staff turnover and the repudiation of Carolyn Laub in the people of color and transgender communities here in the Bay Area and throughout the United States, has stifled the potential of these youth to lead us, as adult allies, toward queer liberation," said Wall.