Utah Stonewall Democrats is a

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

) political group affiliated with the

Utah Democratic Party The Utah Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Utah. The party describes itself as a big tent party. It has very weak electoral power in the state. It controls none of Ut ...

. The word "Stonewall" in the group's name refers to the

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

of 1969, a pivotal event in the history of protecting

equal Equal(s) may refer to: Mathematics * Equality (mathematics). * Equals sign (=), a mathematical symbol used to indicate equality. Arts and entertainment * ''Equals'' (film), a 2015 American science fiction film * ''Equals'' (game), a board game ...

rights Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

for LGBT people.

History

The group was founded in 1990 by

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

LGBT

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

David Nelson. The group was named Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats from 1990 to 1997 and Utah Democratic Gay and Lesbian Caucus from 1997 to 2002. It has been named Utah Stonewall Democrats since 2002.

Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats

The group combined the work of a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

caucus A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to ...

, a

fund-raising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

political-action committee and a

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

group. At its first state-party convention in 1990, the group was called "a new political powerhouse" by KUTV Television news reporters, and became one of the largest caucuses in the party. The group's executive director from 1990 to 1994 was Dale Sorenson. The group's

executive committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

from 1990 to 1997 was Michael Aaron. The group served from 1996 to 1997 as a National Stonewall Democratic Federation affiliate. The group accomplished the adoption of several LGBT-friendly state and local laws, ordinances, rules and policies, and several party policies. The group stopped its fund-raising and lobbying work in 1997, but remained a caucus, and was renamed as the Utah Democratic Gay and Lesbian Caucus.

Utah Democratic Gay and Lesbian Caucus

The group continued the work of a party caucus. The group's executive-committee chairman from 1997 to 2001 was David Thometz. The group's executive-committee chairman from 2001 to 2002 was Michael Picardi. The group served from 1997 to 1999 as a National Stonewall Democratic Federation affiliate and since 1999 as a National Stonewall Democrats affiliate. Nelson retired in 2001 from the group leadership, and the group was renamed in 2002 as Utah Stonewall Democrats.

Utah Stonewall Democrats

The group continued the work of a party caucus. The group's executive-committee chairman from 2002 to 2007 was Michael Picardi. The group's executive-committee

chairwoman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

from 2007 to 2011 was Nikki Boyer. The group's executive-committee chairman from 2011 to 2015 was Todd Bennett. The group's executive-committee chairwoman from 2015 to 2021 was Becky Moss. Under Becky Moss, the group reclaimed its status as a PAC in 2016. The group's executive-committee chairwoman from 2021 to 2025 was Jen Schwarz. Sophia Hawes-Tingey has been executive-committee chairwoman since January of 2025. The group has served since 2001 as a National Stonewall Democrats affiliate.

Notes

References

"Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats (GLUD)."
''Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Utah records.'' Accession number (Accn) 1918, boxes 31–33. Salt Lake City: Special Collections and Archives, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah. 2001.

External links

Democratic PartyNational Stonewall DemocratsUtah Democratic PartyUtah Stonewall Democrats
{{Portal bar, LGBTQ, Politics, Utah 1990 establishments in Utah LGBTQ affiliate organizations of political parties LGBTQ liberalism LGBTQ political advocacy groups in Utah Organizations established in 1990 Utah Democrats