Equality California, the statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization, has hired gay San Francisco resident Joe Sangirardi as its new development director. He had mostly recently held the same position at statewide housing advocacy organization California YIMBY.
Sangirardi begins his new job Monday, February 3. He replaces Sarah T. Morrow Chwe, who had served in the role since 2021.
"We are thrilled to welcome Joe to our leadership team as we continue our mission to achieve full, lived LGBTQ+ equality in California and beyond," stated gay EQCA Executive Director Tony Hoang. "He will help ensure that we have the resources we need to defend our community amidst unprecedented attacks on the civil rights of LGBTQ+ people nationwide. We've had the pleasure of working with Joe in multiple capacities and we look forward to the wealth of knowledge and experience he will bring to our organization."
A major reason for his wanting to work for EQCA is to assist it in its work countering the anti-LGBTQ policies coming out of the Trump White House, Sangirardi told the Bay Area Reporter in an exclusive interview Friday.
"To both fight against Trump's policies here in California but also to give other states a vision for what progress can continue to look like at the state level," Sangirardi, 33, said about why he found the job attractive.
EQCA reported revenues of $1,981,123 in 2023, according to its most recent tax filings, while its educational arm the Equality California Institute reported $4,573,543 in revenue that year. Morrow Chwe's total compensation was $143,218.
Sangirardi previously served in a similar capacity for the Human Rights Campaign, the national LGBTQ rights group. Hired in 2017 as its associate director for leadership giving, Sangirardi was promoted to deputy director in 2022 until leaving the nonprofit the following year to work for the pro-housing California organization.
He and his husband of nearly seven years, Jeff Riles, director of energy markets at Microsoft, have been together more than 13 years. They live in the LGBTQ Castro district, and Sangirardi was one of the more vocal supporters of the renovation project now underway at the Castro Theatre.
The Tulsa, Oklahoma native is a self-professed sci-fi geek, which he played up when he launched his ultimately unsuccessful bid to succeed gay former BART director Bevan Dufty in last November's election. Last March, Sangirardi had won election to a seat on the oversight committee that runs the San Francisco Democratic Party.
Mentioned as a possible candidate in 2026 for the District 8 seat on the Board of Supervisors, as it includes the Castro, Sangirardi told the B.A.R. he had "nothing to say on that" when asked last week about a possible supervisorial candidacy.
"I am very excited for the new job," he said.
Sangirardi is stepping into the high-profile financial role at a time when numerous companies are rolling back support and programs for the LGBTQ community and communities of color due to the attacks from President Donald Trump and Republicans on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. A number over the last several years have withdrawn from participating in HRC's annual Corporate Equality Index.
While it may pose a challenge as he seeks corporate sponsors for EQCA, Sangirardi told the B.A.R. he doesn't see it as a hard roadblock but a hurdle to overcome.
"For every company I have seen rollback their DEI policies, we have seen other companies double down," said Sangirardi. "Certainly, other companies are living those values. ... We are going to work with them."
Even if corporations are ending their support for DEI policies, it doesn't necessarily mean their funding or contributions to the LGBTQ community will dry up, said Sangirardi.
"There are always going to be employees at companies advocating for their communities," he noted. "They might not be doing so in a fulltime paid position. It just means those folks have to step up a lot more over the next couple of years. We have seen it before."
His first big fundraising event with EQCA is coming up March 3 when it hosts its first Equality Awards gala of 2025 in Sacramento. Among the honorees will be Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson (D-Suisun City), the mother of an adult transgender son who will receive an Ally Leadership Award from EQCA.
For more information on that event and the other EQCA galas this year, visit eqca.org/equality-awards.
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