Toledo resigns
NGLTF head cites family matters

by Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Elizabeth Toledo, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, announced April 20 that she is resigning from her job one year after the NGLTF board hired her following an executive search that took five months.

Toledo, 39, a former vice president of the National Organization for Women, cited family matters, including a desire to spend more time with her ailing mother, as her reason for leaving her post. She said her resignation will become effective May 18.

"I have strived to be unapologetic in my need to devote time and emotional energy to my family, and I hope that by example I have been able to make our movement more sensitive to leaders with families," Toledo said in a statement.

NGLTF spokesperson David Elliot said the group has begun an "expedited search" for a replacement for Toledo. Elliot said the NGLTF board has decided to designate a team of five NGLTF managers rather than a single acting executive director to lead the organization during the search period. Meanwhile, the board has invited several "excellent runner-up" candidates who applied for the executive director’s position last year to come forward as candidates again, said board co-chair Jerry Clark.

"It is with great sadness and regret that we accept Elizabeth’s resignation," Clark said. "She made significant strides for the Task Force. We thank her for her accomplishments and dedication during the last year, and we are confident she will be a voice of progressive leadership in the movement."

Toledo came out as a Lesbian less than a year before she assumed her duties as NGLTF director. Some Gay activists wondered if Toledo’s newness to Gay activism would create problems for her in her role as leader of a national Gay civil rights organization. But Clark said the NGLTF board concluded after interviewing Toledo and reviewing her record as a vice president of NOW that she was highly qualified for the NGLTF post.

Clark described Toledo’s brief tenure at the helm of NGLTF as "fabulous," saying she "sure as heck knew the issues and she is very articulate."

Toledo noted that she had worked on Lesbian issues at NOW since 1997 and played a lead role in organizing a NOW Lesbian rights summit in 1999. At the time she applied for the NGLTF post, she had been serving as a NOW representative on the board of the Millennium March on Washington, a national Gay civil rights march that took place April 30, 2000. She said she addressed Gay issues while serving in previous positions as president of the San Francisco NOW and later as president of California NOW.

During her tenure, NGLTF held to its commitment to "progressive" politics and continued to take positions on non-Gay issues such as abortion rights and social welfare programs. The group set up a "W Watch" Web site to monitor the incoming Bush administration’s policies on both Gay and non-Gay issues and spoke out against several Bush administration appointments, including the appointment of former U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.) as U.S. Attorney General.

Toledo said she was pleased with a number of other accomplishments during her tenure, including the publication of NGLTF Policy Institute booklets on such topics as Gay voting trends in presidential elections, transgender equality, the Bush administration’s proposed religion initiatives, and issues of concern to Gay senior citizens. She said she became a strong advocate for Gay families by pushing for public policy positions and by personal example — she lives in a suburban home with her partner, Cindy Jordan, and her 5-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son.

Toledo said she does not believe she lost support among NGLTF members due to her personal endorsement and participation in the Millennium March. NGLTF withdrew its endorsement of the march shortly before Toledo assumed her position as NGLTF executive director. NGLTF officials and supporters said they did not think the leadership of the march represented grassroots activists, and they expressed strong objections to participation in the march by large corporate sponsors. Toledo, who joined the march board as an official with NOW, had to explain to observers that she was not officially speaking on behalf of NGLTF when she delivered a speech from the march stage.

Toledo replaced Kerry Lobel, who resigned in April 2000 after heading NGLTF for three years. Lobel has been credited with stabilizing the group’s finances and refocusing its mission at a time when many activists believed the group was experiencing an identity crisis.

NGLTF, founded in 1971, quickly became the nation’s pre-eminent national Gay civil rights organization. It has been credited with picking up the ball from the early Gay movement of the 1950s and 1960s by using successful lobbying techniques and public relations efforts to tackle anti-Gay bias throughout society, including the media, law enforcement, public education, and political institutions, among other areas. In the 1990s, as dozens of local and national Gay groups began to specialize in each of these areas, NGLTF grappled with its role in a changing Gay activist movement.

Under Lobel, the group established a niche as the national clearinghouse and facilitator for statewide Gay organizations and their lobbying efforts with state legislatures. NGLTF also expanded the role of its National Policy Institute, which serves as a Gay think tank, and greatly expanded participation in its annual "Creating Change" conferences, which have become known as the Gay movement’s annual national meeting.

Clark said that, although NGLTF’s budget dropped under Toledo’s tenure from $4.4 million in 2000 to $3.6 million in 2001, the group’s efforts continued to flourish under Toledo’s leadership. Clark said the budget reduction in 2001 was due to an "overly ambitious" projection of income in 2000 — an explanation the group gave when it cut back its budget in previous years. "We expect to get back up to $4.4 million or $4.5 million next year," Clark said.

"Things were humming very, very nicely under Elizabeth," Clark said. "It was a setback to have her resign. But she put in place some excellent staff members, who will remain with us."

NGLTF spokesperson Elliot said the organization’s membership remained at 35,000 under Toledo’s tenure. He said the organization currently has 30 full-time staff members, with four vacant positions.

Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest Gay civil rights group, said Toledo "will be sorely missed, not just at NGLTF but among many allied organizations."

"Elizabeth truly understood that intersection between practical politics and idealism," Birch said.

The staff management team that will lead NGLTF until a new executive director is found includes Tim McFeeley, political director and former executive director of the Human Rights Campaign; Betsy Gressler, public affairs director; Sandi Greene, director of finance and administration; Bheesham Sethi, development director; and Sean Cahill, policy institute director.

This article is from  The Washington Blade Inc.