The non-auditioned chorus maintains the vision of its founding members to foster increased recognition, understanding and acceptance of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons.
As attendees sang Christmas carols around the piano being played by Cooke the idea arose that Columbus needed its own gay men's chorus.
The Columbus Gay Men's Chorus was founded in January 1990 by five individuals: Doug Althauser, Kevin Gary, Bob Germain, Phil Martin, and Jack Wisniewski.
Rehearsals were held at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and the debut concert took place on December 9, 1990 at the Thurber Theater on the Ohio State University campus.
In 2019, Jared Bollenbacher was named the Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus’ new artistic director following the tenure of Dr. Timothy Sarsany.
Referring to the Latin phrase "the Enlightened Ones", Illuminati was created to respond to the community's expressed desire for performances of a sacred or spiritual context, and is the world's first sacred-only GLBT ensemble.
The group seeks to increase CGMC outreach performances, particularly to religious organizations, while respecting the members’ spiritual beliefs.