The chair of the board of directors of Equality Maryland resigned on Tuesday and the financially troubled LGBT group reduced the salary of its interim executive director and significantly changed her duties, according to a statement released by the board.
Attorney Charles Butler resigned both from his post as chair of Equality Maryland’s board and from the board itself, according to Patrick Wojahn, who chairs a separate board of the Equality Maryland Foundation.
The statement released by the Equality Maryland board didn’t give a reason for Butler’s resignation. But his departure comes one week after he startled some of the group’s supporters and members by publicly blaming the group’s former executive director, Morgan Meneses-Sheets, for the organization’s serious financial woes.
We are writing to inform the community of a critical situation with respect to Equality Maryland. You have entrusted us with the stewardship of this organization. So we feel it's necessary to share with you an accurate picture of the state of this important community resource and what our hope is for Equality Maryland's future.
Based on our listening tour across the state, we know that you want Equality Maryland to survive and succeed. Equality Maryland needs your support, including financially, to make that happen.
This piece was originally published as an editorial from the joint Presidents of Equality Maryland's Board of Directors. The editorial was published in the Washington Blade and the Metro Weekly.
On March 11, the Maryland House of Delegates voted to “recommit” the bill that would have provided marriage equality to same-sex couples, sending the legislation back to committee and effectively ending its chance for passage this year. This came as a bitter disappointment to all who had worked to achieve equal marriage rights in Maryland. As the chairs of Equality Maryland, we take full responsibility for the decision to recommit, and stand by that decision. We want to explain why we believe that, given the circumstances, sending the bill back to committee was the best course of action.
