This morning GLAAD released a statement to address the resignation of president Jarrett Barrios and examine how the organization is putting "focus on [the] future." The release reiterates support for the outgoing Barrios, who resigned on Saturday; emphasizes that GLAAD does not endorse AT&T's anti-net neutrality position; and announces the resignation of Troup Coronado, the former AT&T lobbyist at the center of the current corporate mess.
An executive search committee is now being assembled to identify a new president for the organization. In the meantime, Mike Thompson, GLAAD's chief operating officer, will serve as acting president.
The statement comes as a response to the negative press that GLAAD has received in the last two weeks, when information surfaced about a letter GLAAD submitted to the FCC in January 2010 opposing net neutrality (If you're confused about net neutrality - and that's OK! - check out this video introduction). The letter, which Barrios had not written, read, or signed, turned out to be wholly drafted by AT&T. Then, just last month, GLAAD unnecessarily endorsed the AT&T/T-Mobile merger.
Troup Coronado previously worked for AT&T and was responsible for garnering LGBT support for the telecommunications merger. Coronado's resignation yesterday makes him the seventh GLAAD board member other than Barrios to resign this week, bringing the number of board members down to 22, including officers. The GLAAD release states that Coronado "resigned voluntarily, stating that he wanted 'to do what was in the best interest of GLAAD.'"
Earlier this week, The Washington Blade uncovered Coronado's previous work with the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation. In exchanges to The Bilerico Project yesterday, resigned board members Gary Bitner and Kelly Dermody said they were not aware of Coronado's work with the Heritage Foundation during their time with him on the board.
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It's about damn time Coronado exited. If he'd done it earlier, the press brouhaha would have likely quieted dramatically.