S1: Hey , San Diego , it's time for KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Brackin. San Diego's annual pride parade and festival. They're only a month away , but concerns are being raised over the leadership and vision of the organization behind it. We hear about a recent letter and what changes it's calling for.
S2: Folks are looking for clear leadership , and they want they want that leadership to come from San Diego Pride , because that's what they've seen historically.
S1: Then the Trump administration has banned transgender soldiers from serving in the military. One sailor reflects on the ban and its impact. That's ahead on KPBS roundtable. San Diego's Pride parade and festival kicks off in less than a month now , but this year's events are being overshadowed by questions over the leadership and vision for the organization behind it , and a controversial performer. Headlining this year's festival has led some leaders and organizations to boycott this year's festival. Mara Fox is the community's reporter for The San Diego Union-Tribune , and she's been reporting on this story. So , Mara , you reported on a letter that was made public this week that details concerns over the direction of San Diego Pride. Tell us about the letter and some of the concerns it raised. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So this letter was written earlier this month by about two dozen community members in San Diego. And really , it was sent to the board of directors at San Diego Pride. And really , the heart of the concern is what they say is a lack of transparency at the organization. And what they see is a diminished sense of community engagement and activism and and advocacy at the organization. Which is especially concerning given the Trump administration's more targeted policies and attacks on the LGBTQ community. They also point to some concerns over just staffing , and to concerns that there might not be enough staff to support some of the community based programs at pride. And some of the things they specifically point to is , you know , they had an executive director who resigned last month after being at the organization for less than a year. She was there for maybe around eight months. So they're they're , you know , questioning why that was such a short lived post. And then the new interim director has has been appointed , and they're wondering , who is this person ? How did that kind of come to be ? So just concerns over what's happening at the organization and why the community isn't being as consulted on it as they think they could be.
S1: So I want to talk more about the leadership and some of the , you know , the challenges there in recent years. But you mentioned there's about two dozen names who signed this letter. Can you tell us , you know more about , you know , who signed on to this letter ? Sure.
S2: Yeah. So there's a mix of current and former board and staff members at pride , as well as volunteers , which I think is interesting to to note that there are some folks that are currently volunteering with the organization that are , you know , signing on to this letter. Um , we also see there were a few community leaders , such as Max dispositif , who's the executive director of the North County LGBTQ Resource Center. So really , just a far ranging group of folks who are , you know , concerned about this.
S1:
S2: Um , it's something that they , you know , these are concerns they've been having building over the last year and a half. So they kind of want to open that up so that they , you know , they want pride to be transparent with how they're going to be hiring their next interim director , whatever that process looks like , as well as they're concerned about , sort of like a lack of a clear vision for the mission of the organization. So they want pride to clearly articulate what is the mission here ? Um , you know , they're concerned that the the group might be more focused on the the yearly pride parade and festival. So , you know , if that's their new focus , they want that to be clear , but they're just not getting that clarity. So that's kind of the the hope is that this will open that dialogue with pride.
S1: I want to zoom out a little bit and talk about , you know , the history of , of the role of San Diego Pride. You mentioned the festival , the pride parade. Can you put into perspective the role San Diego Pride has played , not just for the LGBTQ plus community here in San Diego , but , you know , for the region at large ? Sure.
S2: Um , yeah , I think that it's what folks have seen it as is , is more than a parade and more than a festival. More than this one day event. Pride has this ethos of pride 365 , which they've had for quite , quite some time now , which is really this focus on year round programming and activism and advocacy that really is is more than just that , that one day event. And so in the past , pride has been a leader for the region and for the community on these LGBTQ issues. Um , so so yeah , it's been more than just that , that to one day party that , you know , we can all , all participate in. But um , but really just that , um , that larger impact that it can have for the community.
S1: And behind that you mentioned is that that multi-day event culminating in the parade , which we know brings. I mean , what is it like 200,000 people generally.
S2: So many. Right ? They I think they considered our largest single Civic day event in San Diego. So it's it's huge. Okay.
S1: Okay. So to kind of go back to , you know , some of these leadership questions you brought up. The most recent leader stepped down last month after less than a year , you know , on the job , as you mentioned. But this , you know , concern with leadership that's been going on for about a year and a half , I think you told us. So talk about those changes. And you know what's been behind that with , you know , their leadership over the last couple of years. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So since around late 2023 there have been these concerns. So at the time Fernando Lopez was the executive director. And they departed from the organization in December or in late 2023.
S1: And they were there for quite a few number of years.
S2: Yeah , yeah , they were part of the organization for more than ten years , I think around 13 years with the organization and then about six years as the executive director. So a long time. Um , but after that , things just shifted. So in the last two years , pride has had five , um , five executive directors , whether interim or official , which is a lot. That's a lot of turnover. And then for this latest person to have only been in the job for eight months , that's a really quick turnaround. Um , you know , I was speaking with the , um , one of the , the signatories about just in 2005. There were also concerns about , you know , transparency and at the organization. And I understand that there's there's been kind of a , a lack of long term leadership in the organization , um , kind of over , over the last years. But it's really been this concerted year and a half that those , those issues have come to light.
S1: So , you know , the new interim executive director is Kristen Flickinger. What can you tell us about her and her potential vision for the organization for , you know , as long as she's in this role , she is interim right now , right ? Sure.
S2: Yeah , that's a good question. And it's one that I'm also asking right now. So I don't have a lot of clear information to point to. Um , I understand just from the sources that I've been speaking with , I have not confirmed this with San Diego Pride , but that she will be with the organization only temporarily and short term , maybe until after pride , the pride parade and festival. Um , we know that she is a leader at a consulting firm and has led LGBTQ organizations in her career , but there's not much more that that I currently know myself anyway about what her goal is for the organization. Um , and I think , you know , certainly that's something that I'm looking into and working on. But I think for the folks that are concerned as well , they're they also are wondering what her role will play in that in that long term.
S1: Still questions remain their questions. So you and one of them you mentioned was this sort of decline in in staff. Can you talk about , you know , how extensive that you know , how that drop off looks and the impact it's had on the organization ? Sure.
S2: So again , this is something that I'm working with pride to confirm. And , um , in terms of the actual number of the staffing and the board members. One thing that I should note here is that pride has , and this is one of the concerns that the folks have had , is that pride actually took the the directory of the of its board members and staff members off its website , which it says is due to concerns over , um , over the more targeted attacks against the LGBTQ community and its work. Um , which so so there is that um , but folks that are wondering about the staffing and , and who's at the organization , this just raises more questions of where are these people now ? We don't we don't we can't exactly even point to who or where they are. Um , but folks in this letter , they , the the signatories said that the staff over the last two years has gone from more than 30 to less than ten , fewer than ten folks on staff. Again , this is something that I'm still working on confirming , but this is what they noted in the letter itself. Um , and they also pointed in the letter to the departure of some of these community based , uh , programs that were were a part of pride. One of them is She Fest , which. Pride actually canceled its flagship event last summer. And just in April , She Fest actually announced that it was departing from from pride and was going to branch out on its own.
S1: So she Fest was kind of under the pride umbrella , and now they're kind of in their own. Yes. Okay. Yes.
S2: Yes. And so there's there's a lot there to that departure that is kind of separate.
S1:
S2: So we sent about 5 or 6 questions to San Diego Pride really getting at like some of the specifics of the letter. Um , and pride did not respond to any of our specific questions about to , you know , community based programs. The leadership changes. Any of these specific concerns. But it did give us a statement saying that it , you know , is working towards the , you know , maintaining that that that mission statement , that mission of the organization. And they incarnated it. Right now , their focus is on Pride Week , getting the that those events next month kind of out the door handled well. And then they're looking forward to engaging with the community as they look forward to the future. And it's year round programming.
S1: Um , and this letter comes , you know , just as recently as many local Jewish groups , leaders , even some sponsoring organizations have announced they won't be taking part in pride this year due to the singer Kehlani headlining the festival and that singer's stance on Israel being the reason for it. So you know who said they won't participate at this point ? Mhm.
S2: Well , I think the big one to note is Mayor Todd Gloria said that he will not be participating in the Pride Festival , which is the concert that Kalani is headlining. Um , and he announced that about a few weeks ago , and that was on the same day that eight Jewish organizations here in San Diego said that they would not be participating in pride at all. And we've also seen UC San Diego , UC San Diego Health pull out from their sponsorship and their participation in the festival. And I think that's important to note that not only will they not be at the festival in any capacity , they say , but also they're pulling financial support. So when money gets involved , I think it becomes , you know , even more interesting. Um , and we've also seen , uh , you know , Nicole Marie Ramirez , who's a longtime LGBTQ activist here in San Diego. He's also said that he will not be participating in pride in any in any way. So that's a that's a big deal. These are these are folks that have typically been there at pride and been supportive in , you know , in one way , shape or form. And all of this does come after May 22nd. About two dozen Jewish organizations in San Diego asked pride in a formal letter to um to remove colony from the festival that they're headlining. And that's why these eight Jewish organizations then ultimately pulled out , because they said they didn't get any kind of response from pride that they that they were seeking. Um , and due to these safety concerns over , um , over colonies performance , that , yeah , they would no longer be participating.
S1: You mentioned San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. He announced he won't be attending the festival , but he still will march in the parade. What's been the reaction to his decision , given that others , you know , have chosen to skip the event entirely ? Mhm.
S2: It's been mixed. I mean , I think even if you just look on the Instagram comments of our , our story , people have just the readers , just folks in the community have like different , you know , views on this. Some folks are like yay , now I can go to the festival. And Todd Gloria's not there where other people are , are really disappointed in his decision. And so those are just , you know , just community members. But , you know , in the Jewish community , um , Rabbi Devorah Marcus , she leads the Temple Emanuel here in San Diego , and she and , and the other Jewish organizations and leaders that did pull out of the pride fully. She really supported his decision to , um , to not participate in the festival , but kind of wanted him to go that one step further , hoping that ultimately he's not going to walk in the parade. Um , and I think that does bring up a kind of an interesting question of , of the significance of what does it mean to just not to not be at the festival. You know , we don't know to what extent does the mayor go to the festival and right , and listen to the music and enjoy it , or is he just kind of popping in and leaving to kind of just making that appearance ? So yeah , there's been kind of mixed response to , to that with the the Jewish community really supporting that decision. And then others , you know , maybe less less in favor.
S1: And the mayor also did note that , you know , colonies contract with SD pride had been amended to prevent them from , quote , engaging in political speech. You know , has that abated some of the public concerns about the performing ? What's been the reaction to that particular.
S2: But they didn't really see it as like moving the needle in any kind of way , because once Kehlani gets on stage , they're their rationale is that Kalani can say whatever they want. And what's a contract , you know , going to do there ? Um , but I think that's a really interesting part of this. I should note that , um , San Diego Pride did not say one way or the other. If they did amend the contract with Kalani in the way that the mayor suggested , they did. And this was the mayor mentioned this in this detail about the contract being revised in a letter to the Finest Community Coalition , which is a , um , a coalition of Jewish organizations here in San Diego. So they did not pry , didn't confirm or deny if if that revision happened. Um , but the mayor also didn't ask or respond to our questions about , you know , what this might mean for , um , you know , potentially censoring an LGBTQ artist on political speech at pride or or just what the role of political advocacy or political speech should play at at pride. Um , so so I think it's it kind of brings up a larger question of just , yeah , what is , you know , the role of political speech at pride , which is historically rooted in , in political protest.
S1: Well , you know , we're having this conversation. You kind of mentioned this at the outset here. You know , we're talking about the future of San Diego pride in a challenging environment , I'd say , for LGBTQ plus rights.
S2: Um , I think that right now , folks , what we can see in this letter and even what we can see in their their pushback to Kalani headlining pride , just folks are looking for clear leadership. Um , and they want they want that leadership to come from San Diego Pride because that's what they've seen historically. That's what they want. That's what some of these folks , that's what their hope and vision is for , for the organization. Um , and so many of these issues that are impacting the national stage right now that national LGBTQ community are really impacting San Diego. So we have this , um , this ban on transgender troops in the military in San Diego is a huge military community. How might that impact our region overall ? Um , just a few weeks ago , the Department of Defense said that it wants to change the the name of a US naval ship , which is named after Harvey Milk , who was , um , in the US Navy in the 1950s and was stationed in San Diego. And Nicole Marie Ramirez , who I mentioned earlier , was actually very instrumental in getting that ship named after Harvey Milk. So , so many of these issues are hitting really close to home for folks. Um , and , and so I think , like as it plays out in the as it connects to the larger conversation is who , who and where are our San Diegans and the San Diego LGBTQ community going to find leadership in these times ? And that's that's the question.
S1: I've been speaking with San Diego Union-Tribune communities reporter Mara Fox. Mara , thanks so much for joining us in roundtable.
S2: Thanks for having me.
S1: Coming up on roundtable , transgender service members are being forced from the military in the wake of Trump's transgender ban. We hear about the experience of one local sailor. That's ahead on roundtable. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Despite ongoing legal challenges , the Trump administration's ban on transgender people from serving in the military remains in effect , and it's forcing out thousands of soldiers. KPBS military and Veterans Affairs reporter Andrew Dyer recently sat down with one Navy member who's speaking out about the ban. Andrew , tell us about Ben Kibler and why you wanted to share his story.
S3: So he's a really interesting guy. And , you know , this is happening to a lot of people. But I think it's really useful to like tell these individual stories because everybody kind of has their own story. And the thing that the Trump administration is using to justify this ban is that they're saying that trans people , first of all , they say they don't exist , right ? They said that there's you can't be trans and that , you know , their their values don't align with the military and that , you know , they're not being true to themselves or the service. And there's a whole rationale behind it. But when you look at somebody like , uh , Ben Kibler , uh , it's really difficult to to apply that to him and his career.
S1: Tell us about his Navy career up to this point. I mean , he enlisted in the Navy , what , over a decade ago , right ? Sure.
S3: So he's been in for 13 years. Um , but he's he's a senior chief already , and that's , you know , that's an E8. So there's only one enlisted rank above that. Really. And , um , you know , he made chief in seven years , which is incredibly fast. Um , you know , that's an E-7. Uh , and , um , he was recently selected for an officer program limited duty officer. And , um. Yeah , you know , he he gave me some of his evaluations. And , you know , every write up is just glowing. They comment on his leadership , on his loyalty and dedication to the mission. Um , one of them , he was even ranked number one out of , like , 60 other people in his in his rank. So , um , just a real high performer , kind of , um , the kind of person you would think the Navy would want to hold on to.
S1: And to that point , you know , he was , um , honored to be part of this LDO program. It would kind of make him an officer in the Navy. Right. But around the time that that he received that offer , some news came that would impact his future in the military. Sure.
S3: Sure. So the LDO program , you know , it's a really kind of a long screening process. You have to go to a board , you do all this paperwork , um , and , you know , they screen for these , these available spots , um , because , uh , you know , this kind of gets into the , the nitty gritty of the way the personnel moves , but like , it's this kind of a special kind of officer in the Navy where they only draw from the enlisted ranks for this program. They only draw from people with between X number of years of service. Like , you can't get into it at the beginning of your career , and you can't get into it at the end of your career. It's a it's there's a small window where you can you're even eligible for it. Um , and these are like the technical experts on the ship. Um , they are people who have proven themselves , um , as technicians or whatever their job specialty is. And now they're being kind of made leaders and given , um , you know , kind of bridging that gap between the enlisted and officer's side. Once there , you know , once you are an officer. These officers are called mustangs. Um , any officer who's previously enlisted. And it just kind of , you know , it really , you know , the really kind of well respected from both the enlisted and officer side. Um , these mustangs. So , um. Yeah , it was a moment where he should have been celebrating. You know , this was a goal of his and and.
S1: Something that I imagine would really cement him in the Navy long term as well. Right.
S3: So that's one of the parts of the program is it's an additional ten year commitment. So you're you're getting a commission , but you're also , you know , promising the Navy that you'll stick around for another decade. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So then , yeah , I mean , tell us what happened. I mean , his career took a turn. You know , in the last few months. Tell us about that. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. A few days after he found out he was selected for LDO. Is when the first kind of story dropped about the Pentagon reinstituting a ban on trans people. So , um , it's kind of a whiplash situation where you think you've achieved a big career milestone and that your , your future , you know , is crystallizing. You see where you're going to go. And then all of a sudden , through no fault of your own , you know , you're being told that you're you're probably going to be forced out , actually.
S1:
S3: It always takes a while. Right. So you find out there's going to be a policy , but nobody knows anything yet. Right. You have to wait until there's actual guidance or whatever that comes down the pipe. And yeah , basically boiled down to , you know , the the order eventually , you know , said that , you know , being trans is not , you know , Compatible with military service. And anybody who is , you know , diagnosed with gender dysphoria , um , cannot be in the military. And the options are you get out voluntarily and we'll give you , you know , severance package , about $100,000 , or you get out involuntarily and your severance package will be about half that. So it's voluntary or involuntary , but it's really all around involuntary because you're being forced out. So , um , he had to submit his paperwork for a voluntary separation. You know , he had been assigned to the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli in San Diego. Um , Tripoli was changing its home port over to Sasebo , Japan. They're forward deployed in seventh fleet. And , um , they had to leave them him behind. So Tripoli went to Japan and , you know , Senior Chief Kibler stayed behind.
S1: So Ben chose this voluntary separation , which again , as you mentioned , is not exactly voluntary when you kind of break it down. And , you know , there was a June 6th deadline for a lot of service members to kind of choose that that route as a possibility. I think there's another upcoming deadline in July for other members. So talk to me about what the process looks like for a soldier normally leaving the military. And then , you know , compare that to what's happening for service members like Ben today.
S3: So everybody everybody in uniform has an an end of active service date. Your e o s right. This is the day that you're going to get out of the military. And that day is assigned to you like the day you get in , right ? Maybe it's four years. Whatever your contract is , then you re-enlist and your your end date gets kicked back. But you always have that end date. Um. and with this kind of , uh , new directive to , to force trans people out , um , there's kind of there's a date at the end of this year that everybody has to be out by , but , um , everybody has to kind of individually submit their paperwork , and , um , once it's approved , then they'll be given a new end date , right ? Um , and this is the thing that kind of unlocks a lot of the separation process. Um , whenever you're getting out , you have to go to certain classes , your transition classes , um , you have to do a bunch of medical appointments and dental appointments , and there's a whole lot of administrative stuff you have to kind of take care of when you're leaving the military. And none of that can start until you have that , that AOS , that , that end date. So until you're given that , you know , you're kind of just stuck in that limbo. Right ? And that's where a lot of these folks are finding themselves right now is just kind of in this administrative limbo , waiting on the kind of Pentagon paperwork process to to catch up with where they're at. And in the meantime , they can't really look for jobs , they can't , you know , prepare their families to move , and they have to move their their spouses may have to find new jobs , but nothing can happen until until you know , when , when you're actually leaving and you don't know yet.
S1: So you , you know , spoke with Ben , you know , during this , this difficult kind of time where he's navigating this. Um , you know , I want to talk about , you know , his experience transitioning , which happened in the middle of his Navy service. Here's a little of what he told you about that.
S4: It got to a point that I felt like I wasn't living authentically with who I am. And because of that , I wasn't living in a line with my values. And I didn't feel like I was living in alignment with the Navy's values either.
S1: So , you know , as you mentioned , the Trump administration , I think started most recently with the executive order in January , where he referred to it as radical gender ideology. And , you know , um , kind of called out that gender dysphoria. Can you , as you spoke about , is getting in the way of military service. So , you know , talk to me about what Ben's experience was like transitioning while in the Navy and how he was treated during that time.
S3: So , Ben , I believe he kind of came out as trans fairly recently in 2020. Um , previously he'd been living as a woman , his , you know , gender assigned at birth and was already , you know , a respected , you know , senior chief petty officer in the Navy. He had a lot of responsibility already , already accomplished a lot. And he waited until he was assigned to shore duty to to transition because he didn't want anything to mess up his employability. You know , if anything were to happen and yeah , he transitioned , he said. It was kind of no big deal. He , you know , he didn't go through any. This was all done through Navy Medical. Um , so it was all on the up and up. You know , this wasn't like anything , you know , um , nefarious this was , you know , the Navy doctors , um , helping with this transition. And , um , he was assigned to the Tripoli , checked in , and the name changed , and , you know , the berthing he was sleeping in changed and nothing else. He said , nobody , nobody really cares what gender you identify with. This , this preoccupation with with trans people that exists , like in politics and in some extent in media Doesn't exist on the ship whenever you have a job to do. You have your own responsibilities is that people don't don't care as long as you're doing your part and you're doing your job. Like , you know , people in the military are just they're very mission oriented. They're mission focused. Like whenever you get to work in the morning , you want to do what you have to do to go home at night. And anything that gets in the way of that is , is a problem , but everything else isn't. And yeah , he said there was no issue , um , with anybody in the crew. No. No bullying. No. No nothing. He said he's an open book. He'd answer questions if people had it , but , um , it was a non-issue.
S1:
S3: It's , you know , a few thousand people , but it's not it's not a lot. This is not a for as much space as transgender identity occupies in like politics and media. This is a very small percentage of the population and in the military as well , which I think is why it's it's kind of difficult to understand why this group of people are the target for so much of this type of , you know , discriminatory policies.
S1:
S3: So it's if you are not out as , as trans , you know , it's it's entirely optional to tell your provider that you have these thoughts and feelings. So it kind of goes to follow that that may be a thing that people do is , you know , get forced back into the closet. Um , there is a carve out. There's a waiver available if you're diagnosed with gender dysphoria , but you've never attempted to transition where maybe you could stay in , but I don't know if that's really , um , appealing for , for , for for these folks because you're still kind of being told , you know , not to be who who you are , essentially. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So back to the courtroom.
S3: Um , one of them , a judge , did order an injunction and put the ban on on pause. That injunction was challenged by the administration , uh , up to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court , you know , uh , overturned that and basically is allowing this band to proceed while the cases are working their way through the lower courts when either these challenges make it to the court. Um , I don't know what they're going to rule , but all indications are is that this is not a trans friendly Supreme Court. I don't know what the future holds for this , this policy. It won't change under this administration. And it looks like it's unlikely that it's going to be changed by the courts as well.
S1: So as we wrap up , I want to again hear from from Ben. And , you know , as he reflects on his experience , here's a little bit more of what he told you.
S4: I believe in my country. I love my country. I want to serve my country. And I think that that's really what needs to be taken away from from all of this is like , these are just people , just like any other people who are just trying to do their jobs and trying to make the best out of everything.
S1:
S3: He's in this this holding pattern. He has some job opportunities. maybe in Los Angeles , maybe on the East Coast. But you can't go on a job interview if you don't know when you're available to start working. So there's a few things that are happening with these discharges. Enlisted people like , like , like Ben Kibler are being given discharge codes that that say you can't join the military again , you can't come back in the service officers are being given a discharge code that says they're national security risks. And this is something that was done in previous years during the ban on all LGBTQ people in the military. Um , something that , you know , was the subject of a lawsuit and a change in Pentagon policy to to undo some of these , these bad paper discharges. But , um , here we are in 2025 , and it looks like another round of , you know , these are honorable discharges. They are being discharged with honorable discharges. But the code that they're being assigned , um , tells their whatever their next employer , they try to get a government job. It tells them something. Right. And even if you are , you get an honorable discharge. Um , these these bad paper codes can follow you and affect your next job , especially for an officer if you're deemed a national security risk. Well , I don't know how you get a job. If you want to get a job with , like , a military contractor or go into , um , which.
S1: Is probably pretty common for a lot of folks like Ben.
S3: Right , right. Well , yeah. Right. But Ben is a his his job. He works in combat systems on a ship. You know , he has a he has a security clearance. These security clearances are incredibly valuable. When you leave the military , because now the next company you want to go work for , they don't have to pay all that money to have you your background check done. Right. You come with that clearance already. so being deemed a security risk is certainly something that can , you know , have effects down the road for , for some of these folks.
S1:
S3: I mean , it really it saddens me personally , just that somebody who loves the Navy and , um , identify , you know , this is all about identity , right ? But , you know , people in the military , people in the Navy , they identify as as a sailor. And whenever you are no longer in the military , um , that piece of your identity is kind of taken away. And if it's if it's taken away in a , in a manner that you feel is unjust or unfair , you know , it's it's pretty distressing and it can really , you know , kind of affect you going forward. This is something that , you know , a lot of veterans have encountered , you know , regardless of their identity , right ? When you leave the military , it can be a difficult transition. And part of that is you're losing that part of your , your identity. So , um , you know , it's just really I think it's unnecessary. You know , these are , uh , especially in the case of Ben Kibler , who is his track record. His military record is , you know , not just it's not just flawless. You know , he's excelled. And , um , he's a top performer in the service. And somebody that you would think that they'd want to hang on to.
S1: Yeah , I mean , it does beg the question , you know what ? What the military is losing in this with this band as well. Right.
S3: Well , up until very recently , they wanted to make him an officer. They wanted to give him more responsibility. They wanted to , um , hang on to him for for longer. Right. You know , but between that Monday and that Wednesday , when the policy came out , you know , something changed.
S1: Well , thanks for sharing more about Ben. We'll keep following the story with you , Andrew Dyer. He covers the military and Veterans Affairs for KPBS , and sometimes he's also the host of the San Diego News Now podcast. You can hear him on that a lot as well. Andrew , thanks.
S3: Thank you.
S5:
S1: Stay tuned. Roundtable's back after the break.
S5: I'd like to just express my deep gratitude.
S1: Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. It's time now for the roundup , where we catch up on a few other stories from the week. And here to help me do that is KPBS producer Ashley Rush. Hey , Ashley. Happy summer. Summer's here.
S6: Summer's here. Hey , Andrew.
S1:
S6: It's about longtime opinion editor Laura Castaneda. She says the San Diego Union Tribune fired her last week after managers nixed an editorial she helped write about Ice raids in Los Angeles. And our investigative reporter , Amita Sharma , actually sat down with Castaneda for an interview. She told Amita that the editorial was pulled after a publisher said it was one sided. A claim she firmly denies. And then , she says hours later , she got a call that her position was being eliminated. She was told that the editorial wasn't related at all to that decision , but she doesn't believe that.
S1: And this to me , is I don't know. Seems something of a trend. I think last year it really caught our attention during the election cycle where certain , you know , pretty major newspapers really changed their approach to opinion sections , editorials. Many did not endorse a candidate for president for the first time in many , many years. Thinking the Washington Post , their opinion editor , resigned earlier this year due to its owner , Jeff Bezos , kind of really trying to change focus more on personal liberties , uh , free market , certain , you know , topics that he wanted to see covered. I think we've seen similar things at the Los Angeles Times. So some of it's like these owners really trying to kind of change the focus and what these , you know , departments can cover for their publications. Yeah.
S6: Yeah. And that's a trend that Castaneda actually pointed to in the interview with Amita. You know , she said wealthy owners of papers and TV stations across the country are trying to interfere and set the agenda. Here's what she told Amita.
S7: We are supposed to be the eyes and the ears of the community. You know , see ? See something , say something. They are trying to set the agenda. They are trying to control the narrative. And that's not journalism.
S6: And of course , KPBS did reach out to the San Diego Union Tribune for comment on Castaneda's departure from the paper. A representative gave the following statement , quote , the decision to eliminate Castaneda's position had nothing to do with any editorial. And in fact , she did not write the draft editorial she falsely claims led to her dismissal. End quote. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. I mean , earlier this week , I saw a study reporting that more and more folks are getting their news from other sources , from social media , from podcasters from different sources and less from traditional news sources like this. It's interesting how that kind of ties in. It's just sort of interesting hearing , you know , what the UT is going through and what happened to Castaneda and this larger change in the way people are getting their news , too. I want to move on to a story we've talked about on our show fairly recently , and that's the City of San Diego's bonus Adu program accessory dwelling unit. There's been a movement to make reforms to pass stricter rules. And the city council did that this week. It was a pretty close vote , 5 to 4. And they came up with a compromise to cap the number of Adu units that can be built on city lots. In many cases , it's for a use. It kind of depends on on the lot size , but there's a few changes in this reform. It also added the ability for homeowners to sell their ADUs like condos , rather than just renting them out. But it'll be interesting to see because there are questions whether these new rules will meet state requirements. So we'll kind of have to see where that goes. One other story. The San Diego Unified School District , they voted this week unanimously , and they named Fabiola Regula as the district's next superintendent. She had been in the interim role for about nine months , where she had replaced Lamont Jackson , who was forced out last year after investigations into sexual misconduct. And so she's , you know , been in that role for almost a year. And it's the time , you know , where the district's been struggling with ongoing budget deficits , some other challenges. But this week she's got the nod. So she'll be staying in that role. Okay. That'll do it for this week's roundup. I've been speaking with KPBS producer Ashley Rush. Ashley , thanks.
S6: Thanks , Andrew.
S1: That'll do it for our show this week. Thanks so much for listening. You can listen to KPBS roundtable anytime as a podcast. Roundtable airs on KPBS FM at noon on Fridays again Sundays at 6 a.m.. If you have any thoughts on today's show , you can email us at roundtable at PBS.org or leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtable's technical producer this week was Brandon Truffaut. The show was produced by Ashley Rush. Brooke Ruth is roundtable senior producer and I'm your host , Andrew Bracken. Thanks again for listening. Have a great weekend.
