Nancy Pelosi Gets HRC's Endorsement: 'Our Community Needs Her'

Saying "our community needs her," the Human Rights Campaign today endorsed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for reelection from California's 12th Congressional District.

"Speaker Pelosi has always been there for the LGBTQ community in our lowest lows and highest highs," HRC President Alphonso David said in a press release. "At each and every moment when our community has needed her, Speaker Pelosi has been there for us asking how to help. Without her commitment to progress and dedication to equality, our movement would be years if not decades behind where we proudly stand today. HRC is proud and privileged to endorse Speaker Pelosi for reelection. Our community needs her, and we will do whatever it takes to ensure that happens."

Pelosi, a Democrat representing a district centered on San Francisco, was first elected to the U.S. House in a special election in 1987 to fill the vacancy left by the death of Rep. Sala Burton. She had previously been a Democratic volunteer and community activist. In her first year in office, she joined in the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights to demonstrate support for a gay civil rights bill and increased funding to address the AIDS crisis (her first speech to the House dealt with AIDS). She was one of the few members of Congress participating in the march that year.

At a time when support for marriage equality was not widespread, she opposed anti-equality measures such as the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal government recognition to same-sex marriages, and California's Proposition 8, which revoked marriage equality in the state in 2008. When the cases that would eventually overturn both DOMA and Prop. 8 were making their way through the courts, Pelosi said that while marriage equality would seem "inconceivable" to some people, it was "inevitable" to her.

She has been reelected to the House in every election since her first. Her colleagues elected her speaker in 2007, making her the first woman to hold that post; the speaker, elected from the majority party in the House, is second in line, after the vice president, to succeed the president in case of death or incapacity. She won a second term as speaker in 2009, the year Barack Obama became president, and she led the fight for the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell."

When the Democrats regained control of the House in 2019, she became speaker again, and one of her priorities was the Equality Act, which would ban anti-LGBTQ discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and other aspects of life. The House passed it last year, and it awaits action in the Senate, whose Republican leaders are unwilling to take it up. Pelosi also oversaw the filing of articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, but the Senate voted to acquit him. She notably ripped up her copy of Trump's State of the Union speech after he finished giving the address this month.

While Pelosi is popular in her heavily Democratic district, she does have some opposition in the primary, which will be held March 3. Three Democrats and two Republicans are running against her; California has a top-two primary system, so the two candidates who receive the most votes in the primary will advance to the November general election, regardless of party. The challenger who has received the most attention is Democrat Shahid Buttar, a lawyer who has positioned himself to Pelosi's left and who also challenged her in 2018. Political observers are calling his candidacy a long shot.

Pelosi expressed gratitude for HRC's endorsement. "Our great city of San Francisco is blessed with a vibrant LGBTQ community and a history of advocacy for equal rights for all," she said in the press release. "Under my leadership, we have repealed 'don't ask, don't tell," secured passage of legislation to protect communities against violence, and passed the Equality Act. It is an honor to receive the support of Human Rights Campaign as we fight to end discrimination and achieve full equality under the law once and for all."