Equality Arizona is back, but under a leader who allegedly doomed it.
Michael Soto was ousted after allegations of impropriety. Now, he’s quietly retaken control of the statewide LGBTQ+ nonprofit.
For more than 30 years, Equality Arizona has existed as a local beacon of advocacy among queer Arizonans, a successful LGBTQ+ nonprofit that lobbied legislators, hosted star-studded events and held sway in lobbying circles and in Capitol hallways.
So, it came as a surprise last year, when without any public announcement Equality Arizona quietly lost all of its staff and was on the verge of completely folding and brought in another nonprofit leader to help close the business down.
There was no explanation to its abrupt end and no press coverage that the organization’s Interim Executive Director Jeanne Woodbury left her position.
But heading into the 2024 legislative session and a divisive election year coupled with a swarm of anti-LGBTQ+ bills and resolutions there was worry not enough queer voices, especially Equality Arizona leadership, would be at the Capitol.
Now, it’s back, but again under the leadership of Michael Soto, the same person who many say caused its original downfall.
Interviews with lobbyists at the state Capitol, former board members, and former staff for the organization show that under Soto, the nonprofit and lobbying group saw immense success and grew from a team of volunteers to fully paid staff fundraising millions of dollars. But that success was followed by hundreds of thousands of dollars in alleged overspending that decimated the nonprofit’s assets. LOOKOUT has been given internal investigation documents that Equality Arizona’s board and lawyer reviewed, which include text and internal Slack messages, a formal grievance letter, and phone recordings that explained how Soto allegedly bled the organization of money, spent lavishly on out-of-state causes, took on a full time job in another state, and spent thousands of dollars on unauthorized expenses.