Both Groups Claim Ownership of Name
By BOB KECSKEMETY
On Tuesday, September 7, a majority of the membership of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus walked out of their first rehearsal after their summer break leaving less than half of the 75-person membership remaining in the room. Those that left claim they have issues with director/conductor Todd Wiley.
Shortly after rehearsal began at 7:30 p.m., an unidentified member of the Chorus stood up and read a petition he said was signed by 44 of the 75 active members asking for director Wiley’s resignation. Those that signed the petition said they were heading to a different rehearsal locale and invited everyone, whether they signed the petition or not, to join them.
Gordon Roberts, the former assistant conductor of the Chorus and was one of those that left the rehearsal, said the Gay Men’s Chorus was celebrating its 25th anniversary and under the direction of Wiley for the last 10 years. Yet, in those 10 years, the group showed little growth. He claimed that the organization needed to make changes to its bylaws and needed a fundraising board to help obtain the funds necessary to help the chorus keep functioning. Currently members are charged $30 a month each to fund the group.
Animosity between a majority of the members and Wiley came to a head a couple of months ago when the Gay Men’s Chorus stopped rehearsing at the Sunshine Cathedra/MCC. The two organizations worked together for many years. Wiley, who was also an employee of the church, said that he was “relieved of duty” from the MCC. “We were not allowed on premises and it was just 3 or 4 weeks before a show,” he said. “Our directors found St. Mark’s Episcopal Church which opened its doors to us and allowed us to rehearse and we opened the show.”
Roberts contends that the Chorus members considered the Sunshine Cathedral its home and that the group was told that if they removed Wiley from their organization, the Chorus could return.
Another grievance that Roberts and his group have with Wiley was the “termination” of about 10 members, one of which was Roberts himself, without valid reason. He claims that anyone who spoke out against how the Chorus was being run were eventually told they were in violation of the rules and their membership terminated. “If you spoke up, you were quietly taken to the woodshed and told to go home,” according to Roberts. He said that the group’s handbook does have a list of violations for termination, but none of the ten were given the specific reason. He also said that another 8 members left on their own because they didn’t like how the Chorus was being run.
Wiley said those terminated were terminated for just cause and those that left on their own were malcontents.
The two also disagree on the methodology for removing a director from the Chorus. Roberts says that a simple majority vote of the active membership is all that is required to remove a director. Wiley contends that the board of directors has to initiate the removal of a director however, however the general membership can override the board vote with a 2/3 vote of the active membership.
Roberts said that the board was hand-picked by Wiley and that by going through the board, Wiley would in effect have to fire himself since he is also president of the board. Roberts added that the bylaws also permit the membership to initiate the removal.
Roberts added that the 10 members who were “terminated” were going to return to the new group and the eight that left earlier were also planning on returning. The addition of these members will bring the total up to nearly the original 75 people. At their new meeting location, Roberts placed a phone call to the Sunshine Cathedral on a speakerphone. The person from the Cathedral was told what had just happened at rehearsal and the church welcomed the group back ‘home’. The group will start meeting there again starting this weekend. A vote of those present also chose Roberts as their new director.
In the meantime, both groups plan to use the name “Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus” as they both content they are the official group. Both also plan to move ahead a normal with plans for a Christmas concert.
Wiley said he was not surprised by what happened that evening and he was expecting it. Wiley also said he knew they were unhappy but according to the bylaws, this was not how a director is hired or fired.
