Terminated: Commercial Closet's Executive Director

Since early this year, Commercial Closet Association has been in negotiations with GLAAD to dissolve into one advertising media program overseen by the larger nonprofit. But CCA founder Michael Wilke says he was supposed to join GLAAD in this new joint venture. Then on Monday, CCA's board announced the merger -- and Wilke's termination...which Wilke says took him completely by surprise. The board says that's hard to believe and that Wilke was told he'd been terminated November 4.

BY Ross von Metzke

November 12 2008 1:00 AM ET

Michael WILKE Commercial Closet x100 | Advocate.com

Still, Wilke says
his initial hesitation to enter into a conversation
with GLAAD was because “Commercial Closet is my baby.
I’d prefer to see it thrive as an independent
organization.”

But according to
the books, Blackwood says CCA’s deficit was growing
by the week.

As for whether
Wilke has a future with GLAAD’s new advertising media
program, he says that at this point “there
doesn’t seem to be an opportunity for a
dialogue.”

Giuliano said
that if there were to be an opportunity to again work
together, “that’s a discussion we’d
have with Mike Wilke, not The Advocate.”