Under intense scrutiny over his endorsement of a corporate merger between AT&T and T Mobile, Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), has resigned.
The news first broke on a Politico blog, which reported that GLAAD's executive committee voted to remove Barrios. However, GLAAD has refused to comment on the details, setting off a chain of rumors that Barrios has been pleading to keep his job.
Roxanne Jones, co-chair of GLAAD's board of directors, confirmed Barrios's resignation in an e-mail to Windy City Times.
"The GLAAD Board has received Jarrett Barrios' resignation letter and discussed this among other topics on our call," the statement said. "We expect at our next Board meeting set for Wednesday to reach a conclusion on all issues so that Mr. Barrios can begin to help The Board manage transition and bring on his successor."
The resignation follows a firestorm of bad press over a letter Barrios sent the Federal Communications Commission May 31, urging the approval of a merger between AT&T and T-Mobile.
"What our community wants in wireless phone and Internet service is exactly what Americans in general want: more access, faster service, and competitive pricing," said the letter, which was also signed by the president of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. "The LGBT community has a longstanding commitment to all forms of social justice. That is why we look at the deployment of faster wireless Internet options not only from financial and technological viewpoints but also in terms of how this improves society."
The letter raised eyebrows by many who questioned if AT&T bought Barrios' support for the merger with a recent $50,000 donation to GLAAD.
GLAAD representatives declined to comment on whether or not Barrios had been forced resign, or if the merger controversy spurred his departure.
Michelangelo Signorile, host of Sirius XM OutQ radio, reported that Rich Ferraro, GLAAD director of communications, had promised a statement on the resignation by June 19. GLAAD released no such statement, generating talk that perhaps Barrios had not resigned or had attempted to rescind his resignation.
Until recently, the board defended Barrios. On June 7, Laurie Perper, former GLAAD board co-chair, went on Signorile's show and criticized Barrios as detrimental to the organization's fundraising and advocacy efforts. The board denounced Perper's comments as "factually inaccurate, uninformed and misleading."
The statement went on to credit Barrios with a host of achievements for GLAAD. "All of this comes under the dedicated and dynamic leadership of GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios, whom we wholeheartedly support," the statement said.
Jones did not respond to follow-up inquiries on when GLAAD would officially announce the resignation.
As of early June 20, Kevin Boyer, co-chair of the Chicago GLAAD Leadership Council, said that he too knew very little about the resignation. He declined to comment further.