This past week has been a roller coaster for the Freedom Festival and the LGBT community of Utah County. And we don’t mean the fun kind of roller coaster you excitedly wait in hour-long lines for.

We mean the one that, at the end of it all, makes you feel a little sick to the stomach from the tumultuous experience. It gives us reason to distrust the Freedom Festival board leadership, particularly its executive director, Paul Warner, which is why we call on him to resign from the Freedom Festival.

Let’s back up to last Tuesday, when the cavalcade of events all started. Provo city leaders joined with the board members of the Freedom Festival to sign a new contract with a carefully worded, well thought-out nondiscrimination clause.

In part, the clause stated that the Freedom Festival would not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation or military status.

Between this contract and the county’s similar contract and nondiscrimination clause, it seemed the Freedom Festival wouldn’t exclude Encircle or other LGBT groups. At the time, we were cautiously optimistic the Freedom Festival was doing the right thing and taking two steps forward for inclusion.

But, the Daily Herald discovered Wednesday that despite both clauses, all five LGBT groups that applied to march in the parade, including Encircle, were excluded. Many groups told us they were excluded on grounds of their group not being patriotic enough or not fitting into the theme well.

Meanwhile, groups like the missionaries from the Provo mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints march without even applying. Warner confirmed that they invite the missionaries each year to participate.

We recognize that the Freedom Festival has broad discretion to include or exclude groups for factors such as complying with rules and being aligned with “the theme, mission and values of the Festival.” While this leverage should be used to exclude plainly inappropriate hate groups, such as neo-Nazis and the KKK, the festival must take care not to violate the nondiscrimination clauses it agreed to.

Once the news was out that Encircle had been excluded for a second year, a spark of outrage ignited and spread. Cries of protest and threats of boycott flooded social media. It was a slap in the face and a bitter betrayal of trust to all those, like the Daily Herald Editorial Board, who held onto hope that the Freedom Festival would do the right thing and admit groups on the basis of simple human rights.

Even elected officials joined their voices to those of the aggrieved. Nathan Ivie, Utah County commissioner, threatened to withhold the county’s funding for the festival, about $113,000, should they not reverse their decision.

A press conference was held Thursday, where Ivie again echoed his sentiment to withhold funds, saying he “didn’t think somebody would be stupid enough to do what they did,” by rejecting the groups after the festival agreed to the nondiscrimination clauses.

Only after Ivie threatened to remove funding did Paul Warner and the Freedom Festival board concede to reconsider these groups’ admission. By the end of the day, a compromise was reached, and four of the five LGBT groups are now, as far as we know, marching in the parade as a single entry.

This inane back-and-forth and inconsistent, waffling of trust is exactly why we strongly believe Warner must resign as executive director of the Freedom Festival.

First of all, we don’t believe this compromise was reached because the hearts of the festival leadership grew three sizes that day. It’s because Ivie threatened to take the piggy bank. Money talks, and Warner listened. The Freedom Festival board didn’t do the right thing; its hand was forced.

We look forward to the LGBT groups’ participation. But we’re also leery of what this means for the future. Will this be a one-and-done situation, where they’re permitted into the parade once to appease the masses? Is this a temporary fix that will inevitably lead to the same situation next year?

These are questions that have weighed on us. The trust in the Freedom Festival will not sustain while its current leadership teeters on the line of discrimination.

It’s ironic to consider the theme of this year’s Freedom Festival: United we stand. Warner and the Freedom Festival board certainly united the community — against them, not in the positive way it was intended.

We stand united with the LGBT community. We believe that all the groups taking part in the parade, whether they be marching bands, veterans groups or LGBTQ groups, want to participate because they want to help celebrate America and the freedoms we all cherish.

We believe many voices, many beliefs and many backgrounds make up our beautiful Utah County.

Likewise, we wish for a future Freedom Festival board to represent an inclusive, comprehensive picture of our community, or at least men and women with that vision. Let’s stand united and demand that the leadership of one of the largest festivals in Utah be led by men and women who will not discriminate or alienate.

May this problem never again face a festival that is plainly focused on the freedoms we all enjoy in this country.