As of November 2023, [update] 32 members of the LGBT community are known to have held office in the United States Congress. In the House, 30 LGBT people held office; in the Senate, 4 held office. Two people, Tammy Baldwin, and Kyrsten Sinema, served in the House and were later elected into the Senate. The earliest known LGBT congressperson was Ed Koch, who began his term in the House in 1969. The earliest known LGBT senator is Harris Wofford, who began his term in 1991. Both men were not out during their tenure: Koch's sexuality was confirmed after his death and Wofford announced his plans to marry a man over 20 years after serving in the Senate. There are no known transgender congresspeople.
There are [update] 12 openly LGBT members of the current (118th) Congress, all of whom are Democrats. Three are senators and the rest are House representatives. This constitutes the second highest number of LGBT congresspeople serving at the same time in U.S. history. [a] [1] [2]
† Came out after serving
Senator | Party | State | Term | Notes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start | End | Length of service | ||||||
Harris Wofford† | Democratic | Pennsylvania | May 8, 1991 | Jan 13, 1995 | 3 years, 250 days | Announced his marriage to a man in 2016. [3] [4] | ||
Tammy Baldwin | Democratic | Wisconsin | Jan 3, 2013 | Incumbent | 11 years, 159 days | As an openly lesbian woman, Baldwin is the first openly LGBT senator. [1] [5] [6] | ||
Kyrsten Sinema |
Democratic (2019–2022) |
Arizona | Jan 3, 2019 | Incumbent | 5 years, 159 days | Sinema is the first openly bisexual senator. [1] [7] | ||
Independent (2022–present) | ||||||||
Laphonza Butler | Democratic | California | Oct 3, 2023 | Incumbent | 251 days | Butler is openly lesbian and is the first openly LGBT African-American senator. [8] [9] |
† Came out after serving ‡ Posthumously identified as LGBT
Representative | Party | State | Term | Notes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start | End | Length of service | ||||||
Ed Koch‡ | Democratic | New York | Jan 3, 1969 | Dec 31, 1977 | 8 years, 362 days | Koch denied he was gay throughout his life, but a 2022 article in The New York Times identified him as such. [10] | ||
Stewart McKinney‡ | Republican | Connecticut | Jan 3, 1971 | May 7, 1987 | 16 years, 124 days | After dying in office of AIDS, McKinney was outed as bisexual in his obituary. [4] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] | ||
Barbara Jordan‡ | Democratic | Texas | Jan 3, 1973 | Jan 3, 1979 | 6 years, 0 days | Jordan's domestic partnership with Nancy Earl was revealed in her obituary in 1996, making her the first LGBT woman in Congress (per the U.S. National Archives). [16] [17] | ||
Gerry Studds | Democratic | Massachusetts | Jan 3, 1973 | Jan 3, 1997 | 24 years, 0 days | Studds came out as gay as a result of his implication in the 1983 congressional page sex scandal. [18] He became the first openly LGBT person to win election to Congress with his reelection in 1984. [4] | ||
Robert Bauman | Republican | Maryland | Aug 21, 1973 | Jan 3, 1981 | 7 years, 135 days | Bauman was outed as gay in October 1980 while in office, making him the first openly LGBT member of Congress. [19] [20] [4] | ||
Jon Hinson | Republican | Mississippi | Jan 3, 1979 | Apr 13, 1981 | 2 years, 100 days | Hinson was outed as gay after being arrested on a charge of oral sodomy on February 4, 1981. [21] [4] | ||
Barney Frank | Democratic | Massachusetts | Jan 3, 1981 | Jan 3, 2013 | 32 years, 0 days | Frank came out as gay in 1987 and in 2012 became the first member of Congress in a same-sex marriage. [4] [22] [23] | ||
Steve Gunderson | Republican | Wisconsin | Jan 3, 1981 | Jan 3, 1997 | 16 years, 0 days | Gunderson was outed as gay on the floor of the House in 1994, Gunderson was the first openly gay Republican to be reelected after being outed. [24] [25] [4] | ||
Jim Kolbe | Republican | Arizona | Jan 3, 1985 | Jan 3, 2007 | 22 years, 0 days | Kolbe came out as gay while in office after voting for the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. He was the first openly gay person to address the Republican National Convention. [26] [27] [28] [4] | ||
Michael Huffington† | Republican | California | Jan 3, 1993 | Jan 3, 1995 | 2 years, 0 days. | Huffington came out as bisexual in 1998 [4] [29] | ||
Mark Foley | Republican | Florida | Jan 3, 1995 | Sep 26, 2006 | 11 years, 266 days | Foley came out as gay after being implicated in a 2006 congressional page scandal. [30] | ||
Tammy Baldwin | Democratic | Wisconsin | Jan 3, 1999 | Jan 3, 2013 | 14 years, 0 days | Baldwin is openly lesbian, and was the first openly LGBT non-incumbent elected to Congress. [5] [4] | ||
Mike Michaud | Democratic | Maine | Jan 3, 2003 | Jan 3, 2015 | 12 years, 0 days | Michaud came out as gay in 2013. [31] [32] [4] | ||
Jared Polis | Democratic | Colorado | Jan 3, 2009 | Jan 3, 2019 | 10 years, 0 days | In 2011, Polis became the first same-sex parent in Congress. [4] [33] [6] [34] | ||
Aaron Schock† | Republican | Illinois | Jan 3, 2009 | Mar 31, 2015 | 6 years, 87 days | Schock came out as gay in 2020. [35] | ||
David Cicilline | Democratic | Rhode Island | Jan 3, 2011 | May 31, 2023 | 12 years, 148 days | Cicilline is openly gay. [1] [4] [6] | ||
Sean Patrick Maloney | Democratic | New York | Jan 3, 2013 | Jan 3, 2023 | 10 years, 0 days | Maloney is openly gay. [1] [4] [6] In 2014, he married his longtime partner. [36] | ||
Mark Pocan | Democratic | Wisconsin | Jan 3, 2013 | Incumbent | 11 years, 159 days | Pocan is openly gay and the first LGBT member of Congress to replace another LGBT member of Congress ( Tammy Baldwin) and the first non-incumbent in a same-sex marriage elected to Congress. [1] [4] [6] [37] | ||
Kyrsten Sinema | Democratic | Arizona | Jan 3, 2013 | Jan 3, 2019 | 6 years, 0 days | Sinema was the first openly bisexual member of Congress. [4] [6] [38] | ||
Mark Takano | Democratic | California | Jan 3, 2013 | Incumbent | 11 years, 159 days | Takano is openly gay and the first openly LGBT person of color (specifically Asian American) elected to Congress. [1] [6] | ||
Angie Craig | Democratic | Minnesota | Jan 3, 2019 | Incumbent | 5 years, 159 days | Craig is openly lesbian and the first non-incumbent LGBT parent elected to Congress. [1] [39] | ||
Sharice Davids | Democratic | Kansas | Jan 3, 2019 | Incumbent | 5 years, 159 days | Davids is openly lesbian and the first openly LGBT woman of color (specifically Native American) elected to Congress. [1] [40] | ||
Katie Hill | Democratic | California | Jan 3, 2019 | Nov 1, 2019 | 302 days | Hill is openly bisexual. [41] | ||
Chris Pappas | Democratic | New Hampshire | Jan 3, 2019 | Incumbent | 5 years, 159 days | Pappas is openly gay. [1] [42] | ||
Mondaire Jones | Democratic | New York | Jan 3, 2021 | Jan 3, 2023 | 2 years, 0 days | Along with Ritchie Torres, Jones was the first openly gay African American elected to Congress. [1] [43] | ||
Ritchie Torres | Democratic | New York | Jan 3, 2021 | Incumbent | 3 years, 159 days | Along with Mondaire Jones, Torres was the first openly gay African American elected to Congress, [43] and the first openly gay Hispanic member of Congress. [1] | ||
Becca Balint | Democratic | Vermont | Jan 3, 2023 | Incumbent | 1 year, 159 days | Balint is openly lesbian. [44] | ||
Robert Garcia | Democratic | California | Jan 3, 2023 | Incumbent | 1 year, 159 days | Garcia is openly gay. [45] | ||
George Santos | Republican | New York | Jan 3, 2023 | Dec 1, 2023 | 332 days | Santos is openly gay [46] and the first openly LGBT non-incumbent Republican elected to Congress [b] | ||
Eric Sorensen | Democratic | Illinois | Jan 3, 2023 | Incumbent | 1 year, 159 days | Sorensen is openly gay. [48] |
Representative | Party | Jurisdiction | Term | Notes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start | End | Length of service | ||||||
Sabrina Sojourner | Democratic | District of Columbia | Jan 3, 1997 | Jan 3, 1999 | 2 years, 0 days | Sojourner came out as lesbian in 1976. [49] [50] |
Starting | Total | Graph | Event | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
March 4, 1789 | 0 | |||||||||||||||
January 3, 1969 | 1 | Ed Koch elected | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 1971 | 2 | Stewart McKinney elected | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 1973 | 4 | Barbara Jordan and Gerry Studds elected | ||||||||||||||
August 21, 1973 | 5 | Robert Bauman elected | ||||||||||||||
December 31, 1977 | 4 | Ed Koch resigned, having been elected Mayor of New York | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 1979 | 4 | Jon Hinson elected; Barbara Jordan retired | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 1981 | 5 | Barney Frank and Steve Gunderson elected; Robert Bauman lost reelection | ||||||||||||||
April 13, 1981 | 4 | Jon Hinson resigned following arrest and misdemeanor charge for a homosexual act | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 1985 | 5 | Jim Kolbe elected | ||||||||||||||
May 7, 1987 | 4 | Stewart McKinney died from AIDS-related complications | ||||||||||||||
May 8, 1991 | 5 | Harris Wofford appointed | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 1993 | 6 | Michael Huffington elected | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 1995 | 5 | Mark Foley elected; Harris Wofford lost election to full term; Michael Huffington retired to run unsuccessfully for US Senate | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 1997 | 3 | Gerry Studds and Steve Gunderson retired | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 1999 | 4 | Tammy Baldwin elected to the House | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 2003 | 5 | Mike Michaud elected | ||||||||||||||
September 29, 2006 | 4 | Mark Foley resigned following revelations of inappropriate relationships with congressional pages | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 2007 | 3 | Jim Kolbe retired | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 2009 | 5 | Jared Polis and Aaron Schock elected | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 2011 | 6 | David Cicilline elected | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 2011 | 9 | Tammy Baldwin retired from the House to run successfully for the Senate; Sean Patrick Maloney, Mark Pocan, Kyrsten Sinema, and Mark Takano elected; Barney Frank retired | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 2015 | 8 | Mike Michaud retired to run unsuccessfully for Governor of Maine | ||||||||||||||
March 31, 2015 | 7 | Aaron Schock resigned amid a scandal involving his use of public and campaign funds | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 2019 | 10 | Kyrsten Sinema retired from the House to run successfully for the Senate; Angie Craig, Sharice Davids, Katie Hill, and Chris Pappas elected; Jared Polis retired to run successfully for Governor of Colorado | ||||||||||||||
November 1, 2019 | 9 | Katie Hill resigned amid allegations of inappropriate relationship with a staffer | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 2021 | 11 | Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres elected | ||||||||||||||
January 3, 2023 | 13 | Becca Balint, Robert Garcia, George Santos, and Eric Sorensen elected; Mondaire Jones lost renomination following redistricting; Sean Patrick Maloney lost reelection | ||||||||||||||
June 1, 2023 | 12 | David Cicilline resigned | ||||||||||||||
October 4, 2023 | 13 | Laphonza Butler appointed | ||||||||||||||
December 1, 2023 | 12 | George Santos expelled |
Too often, our society seeks to label people by pinning them on the wall – straight, gay or in between. I don't categorize myself based on the gender of those I love. I had a half-century of marriage with a wonderful woman, and now am lucky for a second time to have found happiness.
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