Sexual harassment and gender bias in the animal welfare movement have been talked about for years, mostly but not entirely in private. Now the problems are bursting into public view, and not a moment too soon.

Last night, the Chronicle of Philanthropy published my story about the Humane Society of the U.S. It reports that Humane Society’s board of directors has hired a Washington, DC, law firm to investigate an allegation of workplace misconduct against its longtime chief executive, Wayne Pacelle. Among the topics, insiders say, is an alleged sexual relationship between Pacelle and a female employee.

Pacelle continues to work at HSUS during the investigation, which is being done by Morgan Lewis, a DC firm with a substantial labor and employment practice. This is serious stuff. Most organizations frown upon even consensual relationships between superiors, especially the CEO, and subordinates.

This isn’t, however, a problem confined to HSUS. Having spoken or emailed in the last week with more than a dozen people in the movement, it’s become clear to me that gender bias and sexual harassment are significant problems for the animal protection movement, and they have been for a long time.

Last year, ACE decided to examine workplace culture during its evaluation process. Why, I asked Jon Bockman, ACE’s executive director? “Precisely because of the rumblings we’ve heard for a while” about issues of gender bias and sexual harassment in the movement, he said. “I think it’s a real problem.”

Read the full article about the animal welfare sexual assault problem by Marc Gunther at Nonprofit Chronicles.