Allyson Robinson has been fired as executive director of Outserve/SLDN after a board meeting yesterday. The news was first reported on the Bilerico Project after receipt of a leaked email.
The Bilerico Project report stated that the entire senior staff quit immediately following the board vote. Director of External Engagement Zeke Stokes, Director of Chapter and Member Services Gary Espinas, and David McKean, Legal and Public Policy Director, have all resigned in protest of Robinson’s termination.
Robinson, who became the first trans person to head up a major LGBT organization had only been at OutServe/SLDN for nine months.
In further developments, in an email obtained by Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed, Stokes revealed he no longer wished to be “affiliated with the organization.”
“Today, the Board of Directors made decisions that have compromised the trust I had placed in it heretofore. They have chosen a direction that is inconsistent with what I believe is necessary to secure a successful future for the organization. In doing so, they have for the foreseeable future sacrificed the viability of the mission.
“For that reason, I can no longer represent OutServe/SLDN to the public or to our members and donors. Thus, effective today, I have resigned as a member of the staff and wish to no longer be affiliated with the organization.”
Chris Geidner also revealed clips from an email sent by OutServe/SLDN board member Sue Fulton to board co-chair Josh Seefried accusing him of board manipulation and warning him not paint the picture that it was a unanimous decision. Geidner reports,
“I was a member of the OS-SLDN Board yesterday, and I did NOT vote to ask Allyson to resign. Neither did Shannon. Matthew Phelps and Beth Schissel did not have the opportunity to vote either. Did you even ask for a roll call? On a decision like this?
“You cannot characterize this publicly as a “unanimous” vote of the Board. If you do so, Board members will speak publicly to deny that they voted for it. The details of who was in the room and who wasn’t when you rushed this vote through will not support your case.”
Bilerico reports that almost a third of the board has since resigned.
