Our Mission
"The Desert Stonewall Democrats is dedicated to advancing social justice and securing full equality for all LGBTQ+ individuals through the political process. Our mission is to educate the LGBTQ+ community about the importance of the Democratic Party, to elect pro-equality candidates to all levels of office, and to ensure our party remains a steadfast champion for the civil rights and dignity of every person, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression."
DSD champions the Democratic Party and the candidates who fearlessly advance our mission of equity and liberation. Our strength is rooted in a powerful, nationwide network of LGBTQ+ Democrats and grassroots clubs. Together, we are building a political future that honors the dignity of every lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer person through the following core objectives:
Political Education & Distinction: We mobilize the LGBTQ+ community and our allies by highlighting the critical policy differences between the two major parties, ensuring our voters understand the high stakes for our civil rights, healthcare access, and bodily autonomy.
Transformative Representation: We hold the Democratic Party accountable to its platform, pushing for bold progress on LGBTQ+ issues. We actively recruit, endorse, and elect pro-equality candidates at every level of government—with a priority on elevating qualified, openly LGBTQ+ leaders who will lead the charge for true legislative justice.
Combatting Systemic Bias: We empower our community to support candidates committed to dismantling transphobia, homophobia, and the intersecting systems of prejudice and discrimination that target our most marginalized members.
Grassroots Power-Building: We foster deep collaboration between local LGBTQ+ Democratic clubs and individual organizers to sustain a year-round movement of activism, ensuring our collective voice is heard from the precinct level to the national stage. DSD champions the Democratic Party and the candidates who fearlessly advance our mission of equity and liberation. Our strength is rooted in a powerful, nationwide network of LGBTQ+ Democrats and grassroots clubs. Together, we are building a political future that honors the dignity of every lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer person through the following core objectives:
Join the Movement
DSD serves as a vital hub for strategy, advocacy, and community. We host at least nine membership meetings annually, typically on the third Tuesday of the month.
Our History
Our Roots & Resilience
Curious about the legacy behind the Desert Stonewall Democrats? Our story is part of a larger, courageous history of LGBTQ+ political organizing across the United States. We invite you to explore the origins of DSD through this brief history of our movement, featuring archived newspaper clippings and photos that capture the spirit of our earliest days.
Honoring Our History
Our identity is forged in the fires of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. On June 28, 1970—one year after that historic night—the first Gay Liberation marches took place in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, transforming a riot into a global movement.
While the 50th-anniversary celebrations of those inaugural "Pride" parades were disrupted by the 2020 pandemic, the spirit of Stonewall remained unshaken. At DSD, we carry that same resilience forward, bridging the gap between our revolutionary past and our political future.
Historical Reference Documents
LGBTQ+ Activism – Why Stonewall?
A question frequently asked at our Village Fest voter registration booth is “Why Stonewall?” The short answer is, of course, that the Stonewall Inn uprising (or “riot”) that began on June 28, 1969 was the spark that ignited the gay liberation movement and the progress for LGBT civil rights in the last five decades. While that’s an easy, satisfying answer, it ignores the much longer history of LGBT activism and the struggle against oppression that preceded the Stonewall uprising. This “Short History of LGBT Activism in the USA” attempts to summarize the timeline and the many groups and organizations that were the predecessors for Stonewall. We hope you find it informative.
