Equality Utah is immensely grateful to the Sundance Institute for decades of courageous story-telling that has helped shape our understanding and attitudes toward LGBTQ Americans. By providing LGBTQ artists a platform to share our stories, you have forever transformed how we are known and understood. Despite the immense challenges we still face, more hearts have been opened, more minds have shifted, and more empathy has been established -- because of organizations like Sundance. Our deepest hope is that the Sundance Institute and Festival will remain here in Utah, our shared home, where we have built a mutual supportive community of filmmakers, artists, audiences, advocates and friends. #SundanceFilmFestival #LGBTQStories #LGBTQRepresentation #EqualityUtah #Filmmaking #UtahArts #LGBTQ #Storytelling #SupportLocalArts #CommunitySupport #StrongerTogether #ArtisticVoices

To our transgender community in Utah: As the legislative session begins, we know these are challenging times. But we want to be clear: there is a community that sees you, loves you, and values you. We'll be on Capitol Hill every day advocating for your rights and the rights of all LGBTQ Utahns. 🏳️‍⚧️

In these divided times, stories have the power to unite us. 📅 Join us for our annual PAC fundraising brunch featuring Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black as we bring together storytellers, advocates, and pro-equality candidates who are writing Utah's next chapter. Ticket proceeds support our work to elect pro-equality candidates in state, county, municipal and school board elections. 🎟️ Tickets here:

Happy Holidays from Team Equality Utah! Consider a tax-smart gift to Equality Utah Foundation, a 501 C3 organization to keep our work moving forward into the new year: #HappyHolidays #EqualityUtah

“Conflicts do not resolve while we are attacking. Instead, it’s more effective to take the time to truly listen to and understand each other.” – Kris Campbell 📖 Read Kris’s story:

We are excited to have teamed up with Kilby Block Party 6 happening May 15-18, 2025 at the Utah Fairpark. A portion of all proceeds from tickets will be given towards helping Equality Utah's mission for our community. Find tickets and more information at

In uncertain times, we are thankful for our liberties and freedoms. We appreciate family, friends, and those who make the world kinder. We value peacemakers, bridge-builders, and those with open hearts and curious minds. We are grateful to you. 🦃🇺🇸

10 YEARS OF TROY & EQUALITY UTAH 🙌 @TroyWilliamsUT Wow, what a legacy - from working across the aisle and getting non-discrimination laws passed for our state, to getting 20 blocks in SLC dedicated as Harvey Milk Blvd, supporting the repeal of NO HOMO PROMO laws, working on comprehensive hate crime laws to protect all Utahns, led the campaign to ban LGBTQ conversion therapy for minors statewide, THE LIST GOES ON AND ON! Little words can compare to the impact of Troy Williams here in Utah - to quote our Board Chair Gabe Urza "Thank you for a decade of unwavering leadership and dedication. Your commitment has transformed lives and inspired a community. Here’s to many more years of progress and empowerment!" On Sept 26, 2014 at the Equality Utah Allies Gala, Troy was introduced as the fourth director to lead our 23-year-old organization. His outfits have only grown more fabulous every gala since. What "forest phantasia" look will he be wearing on October 5th? WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE! Get your tickets to find out! Come celebrate Troy's ten years of service and enjoy the music of Andy Bell of Erasure! CHEERS TO TROY WILLIAMS AND THE WORK HE HAS DONE WITH US! #EqualityUtah #Utah 🤝 Creating Belonging in the Workplace 📢 Donate to Equality Utah PAC 👉 Become a Business Equality Leader

Equality Utah is excited to introduce our new development director, Rosanne Simpson! Rosanne has been living in Utah for the past 37 years. She was born in Hollywood, California, and graduated High School in Spokane Washington and moved to Utah to dance at BYU. Rosanne has been in Business Development / Entrepreneurship for most of her adult life and has worked for large companies such as Jenny Craig, MCI/Worldcom, Mitime, Legends in NYC, and most recently dabbling in Pro Sports for both the Utah Royals and Utah Warriors Rugby. We’re so excited for Rosanne to bring her skills to Equality Utah! She is already hard at work to preparing for the Equality Utah Allies Gala on October 5! #EqualityUtah #Utah 🤝 Creating Belonging in the Workplace 📢 Donate to Equality Utah PAC 👉 Become a Business Equality Leader

HB 234 Passage We celebrate Rep. Hayes and Senator Plumb’s successful passage of HB 234, an important bill which streamlines and improves the process for transgender and nonbinary Utahns to change one’s name and gender marker on a birth certificate. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk. It’s been a rough legislative session, but our community has stellar champions in these two legislators. They know how to get the job done! #EqualityUtah #Utah 🤝 Creating Belonging in the Workplace 📢 Donate to Equality Utah PAC 👉 Become a Business Equality Leader

Religious Freedom Bill passes with language to prevent anti-LGBTQ discrimination Today, SB 150, Utah’s version of a Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) passed the House and is now headed to the Governor’s desk for signature. While we continue to believe that a RFRA is unnecessary in Utah, with the addition of language requested by Equality Utah, this bill now re-codifies and reconfirms existing rights and protections for people of faith without repealing any existing protections for LGBTQ people. We are grateful to Senator Weiler and Representative Jordan Teuscher for working with us toward that end. During the legislative session, it can often feel as though communities are pitted against one another. Yet LGBTQ people are people of faith, and people of faith are members of the LGBTQ community. We are one another’s neighbors and family members. We all want to coexist, treat each other with dignity and respect, and be treated with the same. This is the Utah Way at its best, and we are grateful the final bill language reflects this intention. Troy Marina and Sue #EqualityUtah #Utah Read the full story here:

Last night in Washington D.C. Governor Cox made statements about transgender care that were factually inaccurate. Even before Utah’s moratorium on transgender medical care, genital surgeries for youth simply did not happen. In order to disagree better, it’s important that the language our leaders use be factual and not inflammatory. In his recent comments, Governor Cox missed the mark on both counts. They were hurtful to the transgender community. We are going to challenge Governor Cox to hold true to his Disagree Better initiative. We are not going to blast or shun him. Rather, we are going to invite him into deeper dialogue and face to face engagement with LGBTQ Utahns. When we are in conflict, the impulse is to shout and turn away from each other. Let’s do the opposite here. Because that’s the only way Americans are going to successfully navigate this polarized era. #EqualityUtah #Utah 🤝 Creating Belonging in the Workplace 📢 Donate to Equality Utah PAC 👉 Become a Business Equality Leader

We are heartbroken to read about Nex Benedict's death. This cannot be the future we are creating for transgender and gender-fluid children. Everything that we adults do has an impact on the next generation. From the tone of our debates to the leaders we elect to the laws we pass. We can model love and compassion, or we can model hysteria and fear. Which will it be? We send love to Nex's family and friends. We wish dearly we could have known Nex, and watch the person they would grow to become. We will continue to work to ensure the day when all children can live and learn free from the fear of bullying and violence. And we will continue to work to elect leaders at every level who will love, defend and protect LGBTQ kids. Rest in Power Nex. #EqualityUtah #Utah 🤝 Creating Belonging in the Workplace 📢 Donate to Equality Utah PAC 👉 Become a Business Equality Leader

Today, in response, the Utah House of Representatives passed H.C.R. 18, HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION CONDEMNING AND CENSURING STATE SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER NATALIE CLINE, which rightly called out Ms. Cline’s “abhorrent” and “repugnant” actions as “behavior irreconcilable with the responsibilities of a Utah State Board of Education member.” And yet, the House fell short of instigating impeachment proceedings. If in fact, Ms. Cline’s behavior is irreconcilable, then she must, with due process, be removed from office, lest she potentially harm more children. Ms. Cline is already claiming to be the real victim. She has not demonstrated genuine remorse for the harm she has inflicted. We are deeply concerned that given the current moral panic around transgender Americans, we will see even more vigilante characters harass, bully and scrutinize the bodies of both boys and girls on sports teams and in public bathrooms. The state has a responsibility to take decisive action in this moment in order to circumvent more abhorrent behavior from bad actors in the future. Clearly, if the state will not do what it takes to protect children, Utah voters will need to act and remove Ms. Cline from office this November. #EqualityUtah #Utah 🤝 Creating Belonging in the Workplace 📢 Donate to Equality Utah PAC 👉 Become a Business Equality Leader

"Ms. Cline did the very thing we teach our children not to do — she blasted social media without fact checking, which ultimately led to a barrage of hateful and despicable comments that were directed at our daughter” Read the entire story written by Al and Rachel van der Beek for the @sltrib. #EqualityUtah #Utah 🤝 Creating Belonging in the Workplace 📢 Donate to Equality Utah PAC 👉 Become a Business Equality Leader

SB 150 now preserves LGBTQ legal protections. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was enacted by Congress to protect the religious freedom of people of all faiths in 1993. Since then, many states have passed similar bills extending these protections in state law. We initially had concerns that Utah’s proposed RFRA, 2nd Substitute SB 150, would be used to override protections against discrimination for LGBTQ Utahns in housing and employment, and the ban on conversion therapy. These are two places in Utah code where Equality Utah worked with stakeholders and the Utah Legislature to carefully balance religious liberty with protections for the LGBTQ community. We are grateful the sponsor, Senator Weiler, heard our concerns and incorporated language in the bill to make clear that the rights conferred in these previously enacted bills are preserved and protected. With the inclusion of this new language, the bill passed out of the Senate unanimously. It will next move to the House for consideration. We are thankful to all of the stakeholders who engaged in thoughtful negotiations on this legislation. #EqualityUtah #Utah

HB 303 -- “School Curriculum Requirements” moved favorably out of committee with a narrow vote of 6 to 5. The bill ostensibly is designed to prohibit school officials and employees from endorsing, promoting, or disparaging certain beliefs or viewpoints.There are some things that we support in the legislation, and other elements that raise serious concerns. Equality Utah appreciates that Rep. Stenquist’s legislation bars teachers and school administrators from disparaging a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity. We similarly support the language in HB 303 that prohibits a teacher or administrator from trying to change a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity. This is consistent with the principles Equality Utah worked to enshrine in code during the 2023 Legislative Session regarding conversion therapy. We are very concerned, however, about the bill’s use of vague terms: “endorse, promote, or disparage” in conjunction with “political or social belief or viewpoint.” Vague or uncertain terminology can lead to uneven enforcement and lack of clarity for teachers and administrators. If passed by the legislature, we fear that these uncertain provisions will have a chilling effect on our teachers’ ability to exercise their first amendment rights, and will ultimately lead to litigation. Additionally, we want to be clear that the simple fact of being an LGBTQ Utahn is not political. We are a community of diverse individuals with varying religious beliefs, political viewpoints, and social affiliations. There is no political ideology that is universally embraced, espoused or promoted by LGBTQ Americans, nor should there ever be. Accordingly we assert firmly that displaying a pride flag or otherwise demonstrating our sexual orientation or gender identity is not a political act. #EqualityUtah #Utah

Equality Utah's College Ambassador Legislative Summit 2024 was a success! Our statewide ambassadors came together for three days to connect with legislators and key stakeholders, celebrate campus accomplishments, and learn how to influence legislation that impacts LGBTQ Utahns. This is how we are working to support the next generation of leaders to create change across our state! We still have lots of work ahead, but these students are changemakers and give hope for the future. 🙌 #EqualityUtah #Utah 🤝 Creating Belonging in the Workplace 📢 Donate to Equality Utah PAC 👉 Become a Business Equality Leader

RT @TroyWilliamsUT: 10 years ago today! "The Capitol 13" were arrested at the Utah Capitol in an act of peaceful civil disobedience. We wer…