Passing of Nancy Wohlforth

With heavy hearts we share the news that Nancy Wohlforth, founder of Pride At Work, passed away on December 31, 2024.

 Nancy’s organizing and leadership in the labor, LGBTQIA+, and civil rights movements are tremendous and we look forward to sharing her story in depth once her obituary is ready and plans for a spring celebration of life are finalized.

 

A few highlights from Nancy’s busy lifetime fighting the good fight:

 

• Nancy Wohlforth became the first openly LGBTQIA+ officer of an international union in 2003 when she was elected as Secretary-Treasurer of OPEIU.

• In 2005 she became the first openly LGBTQIA+ person elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council.

• Nancy and Cal Noyce served as the first Co-Presidents of Pride At Work and in 1997 secured the AFL-CIO’s recognition of us as an official constituency group.

• As a teenager Nancy spent a summer as a Freedom Rider in the Civil Rights movement, part of her lifelong commitment to racial justice.

• Nancy was known for reminding her Pride At Work siblings, “If you don’t have a seat at the table, bring a sturdy folding chair!”

 

Thank you for everything, Nancy!

 

On our website you can find a growing photo gallery and an excerpt about Nancy from the book Out in the Union: A Labor History of Queer America by Miriam Frank.

 Pride at Work AFL-CIO