Derek Kitchen (born August 30, 1988) is an

American politician The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers. These are: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a b ...

from

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. He is a member of the

Utah State Senate The Utah State Senate is the upper house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The Utah Senate is composed of 29 elected members representing an equal number of senate districts. Each senate district is ...

representing Utah's 2nd senate district, and formerly a Councilmember on the Salt Lake City Council representing Council District 4. Kitchen is also known for his appearance on Food Network's ''Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives.''

Education and career

Kitchen graduated in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in political science from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of D ...

. Kitchen and his partner, Moudi Sbeity, opened Laziz Foods in 2012 to provide Lebanese food to local grocery stores and the Farmers Market in Salt Lake City. It was in 2016 they opened Laziz Kitchen, a Lebanese restaurant downtown. Laziz Kitchen has a partnership with the

International Rescue Committee The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 1 ...

(IRC) to hire refugees and New Americans from Iraq and Syria. Laziz Kitchen appeared on ''Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives''. In 2019, Kitchen complete
Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government
program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as
David BohnettLGBTQ Victory Institute
Leadership Fellow.

Kitchen v. Herbert

In 2014, Kitchen and his partner sued the State of Utah for marriage equality with Kitchen v. Herbert. This case legalized same-sex marriage in Utah and five other states in the western U.S., establishing a groundbreaking case-law that led to nationwide marriage equality in 2015. Following the lawsuit, Kitchen was the subject of a documentary about the lawsuit that legalized gay marriage, called Church & State.

Salt Lake City Council

In 2015, Kitchen was elected to represent Council District 4 in Salt Lake City where he led the effort to create a historic $21 million fund to create affordable housing in October 2016. He also worked to expand housing options in Salt Lake City with an update to the Accessory Dwelling Unit/Mother-in-law ordinance in 2018. He formerly served as a chair for the redevelopment agency.

Utah State Senate

In 2018, Kitchen announced his bid for Utah State Senate District 2. He was endorsed by the outgoing senator Jim Dabakis, then the only openly gay member of the legislature, and won the close Democratic primary in July, winning 53 percent to his opponent Jennifer Plumb's 47 percent. On November 6, Kitchen won in the general election and was elected to serve in the 2019-20 Utah Senate Minority Leadership as Senate Caucus Manager. In 2020, Salt Lake police searched Kitchen's Venmo account after he gave $10 to a woman who was accused by the police of buying paint. This was after protests against killings by police in which the street in front of the district attorney's office was painted red. During his term, Kitchen proposed raising the minimum age for buying a gun from 18 to 21 and repealing the statute banning marriage for same-sex couples that is still on the books. In July 2022, he received 49.6 percent of the vote to Plumb's 50.4 percent in the Democratic primary for the Utah Senate's new 9th district.

Personal life

Kitchen and Moudi Sbeity met in 2009 and married in 2015. They divorced in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitchen, Derek Living people 21st-century American politicians University of Utah alumni Gay politicians Former Latter Day Saints Politicians from Salt Lake City LGBT state legislators in Utah Democratic Party Utah state senators 1988 births 21st-century LGBT people