Equality Arizona is a nonprofit organization that works to ensure that LGBTQ+ Arizonans are treated equally under the law, our full human and civil rights are upheld by every level of government, and we have the same rights and obligations as every other citizen of our state and nation.
Equality Arizona is a multi-entity organization made up of a 501(c)(3), the Equality Arizona Foundation; a 501(c)(4), Equality Arizona; and the Equality Arizona Political Action Committee. We operate under the collective name, Equality Arizona, as the advocacy and political representatives of LGBTQ+ Arizona.
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Our Mission
Equality Arizona’s mission is to build broad and inclusive communities that advocate for the civil rights, safety, and social equality of LGBTQ Arizonans through civic engagement, community building, and education.
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Our Vision
We envision an Arizona and United States where everyone, including LGBTQ and other marginalized people, lives knowing they are equally protected under the law and have equal opportunity to live, thrive, and be treated with the dignity that all human beings deserve.
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Our Values
Equality Arizona’s values help to guide our work – both what we do and how we do it. Our goal in stating these values is to cultivate integrity and accountability for our work and how we do that work.
Justice
Human beings are capable of and responsible for creating a fair society for all people.
Authenticity
Every person is free to live and fully be themselves. In return, they respect how others live, even if they do not like or agree with their choices.
Generosity of Spirit
Assume good intent and treat others and ourselves with respect and dignity. If we are to create real and enduring community we must cultivate a culture of radical hospitality, not a culture of judgement, of in groups and out groups, of right vs. wrong.
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Service to Others
Our community is bound together by a commitment to one another through service. We lift each other up and work to help those in need.
Knowledge and Understanding
Change begins with knowledge. We work to educate Arizonans about the LGBTQ+ community and our needs - in order to help them come to know and better understand their LGBTQ+ neighbors.
Courage
We live as LGBTQ+ people, even when we are rejected, discriminated against, and even criminalized because of who we are. We believe that all people have a right to live as full human beings. This is courage in action every day.
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Core Beliefs about the Purpose of Government
We believe that our local, state, and federal governments have an obligation to recognize the full civil and human rights of all Arizonans and Americans, including LGBTQ+ people.
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History
From Founding to Today
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Equality Arizona was founded at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic to fight for the rights of people living with AIDS and for the decriminalization of LGBTQ+ lives. Our founders were loving called the “Bill’s”, because all six of these men were named Bill. Our state and the LGBTQ+ Arizonans that came after the Bill’s all owe a debt of gratitude to these brave men who stood up as out gay men and openly advocated for legal protections for LGBTQ+ Arizonans, during a time when being out was not what it is today.
In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, we fought for the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the archaic laws that criminalized LGBTQ+ relationships, challenged laws that would have defined marriage as "one man and one woman", and campaigned to win marriage equality for the entire community.
Throughout the early 2000’s and 2010’s we worked for marriage equality in Arizona and federally, to secure adoption and foster care rights for LGBTQ+ families, and to win non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ Arizonans in employment, housing, and public accommodations, winning ordinances in city after city and beginning to lay the groundwork for statewide protections a coalition of other statewide LGBTQ+ organizations.
Most recently, in the late 2010’s and so far in the 2020’s we have continued to work with an incredible coalition of statewide LGBTQ+ organizations to win non-discrimination ordinances in 11 cities in Arizona, covering more than 50% of the population and introduced and had a first ever hearing in the legislature for a statewide non-discrimination bill. We co-founded a national coalition with One Community that works to support LGBTQ+ civil rights work in red states and in co-leading this coalition we played a crucial role supporting Arizona’s senior U.S. Senator, Kyrsten Sinema, in an effort that resulted in codifying the first federal LGBTQ+ civil rights law, the Respect for Marriage Act. Additionally, we have played a significant role in Arizona electoral politics, helping to galvanize voters of every party to vote for pro-equality and pro-pluralism candidates, resulting in more representative government for a diverse Arizona.