2022 Grand Marshal: Assemblymember Mark Stone

The SC Pride Committee announced this year’s 2022 Grand Marshals:

• 25 Years of Queer Youth Leadership Awards (QYLA) Awardees 1998-2022

• Assemblymember Mark Stone 

Assemblymember Mark Stone has been a tireless advocate and ally for LGBTQ+ people throughout his career as a policy maker, including for the past 10 years during his tenure as the Assemblymember for California’s 29th Assembly District, which includes portions of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, and Monterey Counties. As an assemblymember, he served as Chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee and has written several laws to protect the civil rights of members of the LGBTQ+ community, sexually exploited youth, and immigrants.

Before his service in the Assembly, Assemblymember Stone was elected twice to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, where he worked on health care, education, youth issues and the environment. As a County Supervisor, he was an outspoken supporter for and a frequent meeting participant of the Queer Youth Task Force where he fought to halt discrimination of LGBTQ+ youth.

Assemblymember Stone's mission has been to create a state and a county that are free of prejudice and discrimination. In his 2020 letter to the Queer Youth Leadership Awards where he has attended annually, he wrote, “Be brave, be bold, be creative, be compassionate, and be the authentic you that the world needs.” Assemblymember Stone has lived the words he has often shared with many groups reminding everyone that “One conversation and one heart at a time will make a difference.”

Read about former SC Pride Grand Marshals.