The Utah Pride Center supports and serves the Utah LGBTQ community and its allies to strengthen our collective vision, impact, and collaboration.
Our Mission
The Utah Pride Center is a community-based organization that provides support, education, outreach and advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer individuals and their allies, through programs, services and resources.
Vision & Guiding Principles
Our Vision: A LGBTQ community living openly in dignity united in working for acceptance and equality.
Our Guiding Principles:
- We believe in the dignity and equality of all people.
- We believe in innovative thinking and responsible action.
- We believe those individuals who know or who are questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity deserve a safe, nurturing environment.
- We believe in programs which educate, empower and foster integrity.
- We believe in celebrating diversity.
- We believe in the importance of educating the community-at-large about issues affecting LGBTQ people.
- We believe in working collaboratively with LGBTQ organizations locally and nationally.
History
The Utah Pride Center (formerly the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center of Utah) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-governmental, community organization that plays the vital role of providing information, programs, referrals, and services to a diverse LGBTQ community in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The staff of the Center disseminates information on a wide variety of issues and advocates for social change for the GLBT community.
Originally known as the Utah Stonewall Center, the Center opened in 1992 to provide a safe space for LGBTQ people to come together amid the conservative Utah cultural climate. Within two years, the Center attracted many volunteers and raised enough money to hire a part-time staff person to grow the organization. Severe financial difficulties hit in 1996, rallying a coalition of community members to raise the money necessary to provide a more secure foundation for this much-needed organization.
Upon its reopening in 1997 as the LGBTQ Community Center of Utah, the organization has been located in two side-by-side buildings at 355 and 361 North 300 West in Salt Lake City and has expanded its number of services, volunteers, and paid staff. The Center benefits from an extremely active volunteer base, including hundreds of volunteers for the annual Utah Pride Festival and Salt Lake City WinterPride.
In 2006, the LGBTQ Community Center of Utah changed its name to the Utah Pride Center to be inclusive of all people who are concerned with and impacted by LGBTQ issues.
