If Candace Gingrich looks anything like her older brother, her politics do not.

While former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was "head of the Republican revolution," his younger sister is a leader in a revolution of her own.

"We've still got people who are ignorant and intolerant, but change is happening," gay rights activist Candace Gingrich told a group at the Utah Pride Center Monday.

Gingrich, the senior manager of the Human Rights Commission's Youth and Campus Outreach program, told the group of LGBT youth it is important to come out to family and friends.

"That has had a huge impact on this country," she said. "It's harder to dehumanize if there's a face. The more people that come out, the more the country changes."

Gingrich shared her story of coming out to her family in 1987, and then later to the country when an Associated Press reporter asked if she was a lesbian.

Her brother's response: "It was my life, and I had the right to live it the way I wanted to," Candace Gingrich recalled.

Gingrich said she enjoys working outside of D.C., where her coworkers on Capitol Hill are "working with people who are mostly over 50, mostly white, mostly straight and just aren't quite there on LGBT issues."

"Utah is where the good stuff is happening," Gingrich said.

With six states, including Iowa, allowing gay marriage, she said the LGBT community is making progress.

"In Utah, we do feel like we have some extra burdens on us because of our state laws," said Valerie Larabie, Pride Center director. "And it does feel hopeless sometimes, but we have a fire lit now … and we don't want that to burn out."

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