Six GLAAD Board Members have Resigned

Jocelyn Bramble, Kelly Dermody, Humberto Mata, James Walker, Gary Bitner and Randi Weingarten have resigned due to the fallout of the AT&T/T-Mobile drama.

Politico reports:

Some board members were said to have resigned because of concerns that GLAAD failed to adhere to its conflict of interest standards and to protest GLAAD's failure to protect its president, Jarrett Barrios, who submitted his letter of resignation to the group Saturday amid a growing backlash in the gay blogosphere over the group's AT&T stance.

Barrios had signed the letter GLAAD sent to the FCC in support of the wireless mega-deal.

GLAAD board member Gary Bitner confirmed in an email to POLITICO on Tuesday that he had resigned. Five other board members — including Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers — also have submitted their resignations, according to the POLITICO source who is familiar with the matter.

This incident has reduced their board to 23 now. Will there be more resignations to come?

GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios Resigns

After Jarrett dealt some shade cards with AT&T/T-Mobile merger, his group called for his resignation.

Here's the story:

POLITICO's Eliza Krigman reported recently that GLAAD was among a number of progressive groups with no obvious institutional interest in telecom issues who received money from AT&T and subsequently issued public statements supporting AT&T's merger with T-Mobile. Another letter was sent from GLAAD to the FCC opposing possible net neutrality rules. GLAAD later rescinded the letter, claiming it was sent in error. The issue had created an uproar in the gay blogosphere.

A source familiar with the board's deliberations told POLITICO that the executive committee voted in favor of removing president Jarrett Barrios, who refused to resign. Barrios may now take the issue to the full board of directors. A GLAAD spokesman declined to comment on the board's internal deliberations.

Jarrett has finally stepped down.

For the whole story, check out Phil Reese's piece from Washington Blade.