Out lesbian Christine Johnson is returning to her home state to head up South Carolina's gay rights organization, reports the Advocate.
The former member of Utah's house of representatives has now been named executive director of South Carolina Equality and starts in her new position July 1. The 41-year-old Democrat previously represented Salt Lake City and Park City in Utah's house, where she sponsored a resolution to repeal "don't ask, don't tell."
Johnson also sponsored pro-equality legislation while in Utah, including bills to eliminate anti-LGBT employment discrimination and discrimination in housing.
According to a press release, Johnson is also a former board member of Equality Utah and the Rape Recovery Center, vice-chair of Stonewall Democrats, vice chair of the Salt Lake City Human Rights Commission and founder of BRIDGE, a community-based LGBT outreach organization.
"We are thrilled that our national search yielded strong candidates for the position and even more excited to have Christine join us at SC Equality," said Dean Pierce, SC Equality board chair. "We are confident she will build on the tremendous foundation of the past year and take the organization to a new level."
Former executive director C. Ray Drew stepped down in February after two years at SC Equality and has taken a job as executive director of the ACLU of Colorado.
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