THE GAY MEN'S Chorus of Houston is not solely for gay men. The board of directors and the membership welcome and encourage women to join them — at least for non-singing roles at present. Their desire to include women was eminently clear when the group hired Mary Jean Tiernan as its executive director in December.

Tiernan, a native New Yorker and a 20-year Houston resident, previously worked for a local architectural firm. But in her "spare" time she was involved with gay non-profits, most notably AssistHers and the Songfest.

In fact, she was president of AssistHers but stepped down when she went to work for GMCH. She "couldn't serve two masters," she says.

Tiernan left her job with the architectural firm in April 2002 and decided to live on her savings for a while and figure out what she really wanted to do with her life — and to "fine tune her fund-raising skills for non-profits."

She was one of several candidates — male and female — who applied for the GMCH position and found out she was selected just before Christmas 2002.

"It was the best Christmas gift I'd ever received," Tiernan says.

She says she was getting low on funds and thought she might be working as a waitress by January if she couldn't find work.

TIERNAN AND GMCH SEEM to be a perfect match. The have nothing but praise for her. She loves music and has found a place to use her skills.
She also loves being with all those guys, she says.

"I've never had so many men in my life, and they have made me feel so welcome," Tiernan says.

Outsiders ask what a gay woman is doing as the director of a gay chorus, but Tiernan has nothing but support from GMCH members, she says.

She does have to share them with several other women, though. Sallie Huffer of the Montrose Counseling Center is a board member, Barb Easterly is the librarian, Beth McConnell holds the accompanist spot, Nancy Busch is the sign interpreter, Lou Anderson coordinates associate members and volunteers and Margie Babbidge is a committee member and usher.

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