Whenever a gay men's chorus performs, it can be as much a political statement as a musical one. As times have changed, though, it is becoming more the latter than the former.

A prime example is the upcoming seasonal performance by the 44-member Sacramento Gay Men's Chorus. Called "Jingle," the event will spotlight 15 holiday gems in performances that will range over three days at Sacramento's First United Methodist Church.

Although membership in this chorus carries with it a thread of activism, the group's challenges these days have less to do with identity, AIDS or recognition than with what every nonprofit arts organization faces: raising money and attracting new audiences.

"Our biggest challenge is staying relevant," said artistic director Paul Jones, who has sung with the group since 1989.

The group, comprised mostly of older singers, is now focused on attracting a new generation of performers. Established in 1984, this chorus includes straight and gay singers. It operates as a non-audition chorus who sing from memory at performances, not from sheet music.

The chorus certainly advocates for gay rights. It has supported services in remembrance of the torture and murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in 1998. Witnesses said Shepard was targeted because of his sexual orientation.

The chorus's advocacy also has included singing a rendition of "Prop. 8: The Musical" recently on the west steps of the Capitol during a gay-rights rally.

Jones believes that music, like the pen, is mightier than the sword.

"We find that we're able to say things in music that we're not able to say with words alone," he said. "It's through the music that you're able to make that deeper connection and foster a better dialogue."

Proposition 8, especially, is an issue that affects the chorus intimately.

"Well over half of chorus members have partners, but few of us are legally married," said Mike Tentis, board president and bass with the chorus.

The existence of the chorus owes much to the trailblazing done by the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

That group gave its first public performance in 1978, albeit informally, at the steps to San Francisco's City Hall building on the evening that openly gay City Council member Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by council member Dan White.

In the spring of 1981, the San Francisco chorus undertook a 12-city tour. That tour proved formative for the start of gay choruses nationwide, including in Sacramento.

"We thought, 'If they can do this, we can do it," said baritone David Kwong, the longest continuous original member of the Sacramento Gay Men's Chorus.

Several months later, the New York City Gay Men's Chorus performed at Carnegie Hall – the first choral concert at the hallowed hall by a gay-identified choral group. The following year the GALA Choruses network, a national advocacy group for gay, lesbian and transgender choruses, was founded. In the next two decades, gay choruses became the fastest-growing segment of choral performers.

This growth was challenged as the AIDS epidemic took hold. It decimated the rosters of the all-gay choruses.

"To date, over 50 members of our chorus have died from AIDS," Tentis said.

Today, the GALA network membership boasts 160 groups worldwide. In the 1980s, singers joined the Sacramento chorus as much to be part of a family as to satisfy their love for singing.

"The chorus became a very important source of emotional support, especially for members that were shunned by their own families during the worst of the AIDS crisis," Tentis said. "It became an important connector in a time prior to cellphones and personal computers."

Although the chorus was formed by gay men and has been composed primarily of gay men, it was called the Sacramento Men's Chorus for many years.

The feeling was that putting the word "gay" in the name would deter many from joining the group, its leaders said. For most of its history, the group was keen on safeguarding the professional identities of its singers, some of whom held high-visibility jobs.

Five years ago, the group decided that it was time for a name change.

"As the cultural acceptance of gay culture has become more mainstream, the membership felt it was time to state the obvious," Tentis said.

Today the chorus faces the more mundane crisis of bringing in funds to keep the organization going. The group performs four times a year and operates on a $55,000 budget.

"We have to work hard every year to keep our bills paid," Tentis said.

Like all arts groups, it fights for an ever-shrinking piece of already-decimated public funding. In the past, the chorus received as much as $15,000 a year from entities such as the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission. SMAC has provided $1,600 this year, Tentis said.

Even so, the future looks bright. Next year, the chorus will travel to Denver to perform at an international choral festival, where they will be performing a new work commissioned from pianist, cabaret producer and composer Graham Sobelman.

"The 30th anniversary will be here in 2014, and we expect to still be making music," Tentis said.

It will be a homegrown affair that recognizes the chorus as a symbol of Sacramento's rich cultural life.

"We see ourselves as ambassadors, not only for the gay and lesbian community, but for the community as a whole," Jones said.

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