Nancy Pelosi says she refused to drop trans protections from hate-crimes law: ‘I’m not ever taking out trans’
Representative Nancy Pelosi speaks at a podium (Image: Getty Images)
Nancy Pelosi has said she refused to remove trans protections from federal hate-crimes legislation, recalling being told: “People told me, ‘You can pass this in a minute if you take out trans,’” before she replied: “I said, ‘I won’t pass it in 100 years because I’m not ever taking out trans.’”
Pelosi made the comments in an exclusive Washington Blade interview reflecting on nearly four decades of LGBTQ advocacy. She argued that movement pressure outside Congress was essential to progress.
“Anything that we accomplished, whether it was fighting HIV and AIDS, ending discrimination, passing hate crimes legislation, or ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ would never have happened without outside mobilization,” Pelosi said.
HIV/AIDS and the roots of her advocacy
Pelosi described HIV/AIDS as a defining early focus of her time in Congress. “My first words on the House floor were that I had come here to fight HIV and AIDS,” she said, recalling arriving in Congress in 1987.
She said the crisis helped shift attitudes in families and communities: “When families learned that a son or daughter was HIV-positive and gay, barriers started to break down.” Pelosi also repeatedly returned to what she described as four pillars of the response: community-based advocacy, community-based care, prevention, and research.
Equality Act and trans inclusion
On hate-crimes legislation, Pelosi said she resisted arguments that protecting fewer groups would make passage easier, and said the bill ultimately passed with trans protections included.
Pelosi also addressed the Equality Act, saying: “We passed it in the House again and again,” while adding: “The Senate is more difficult because of the procedural hurdles.” She said she believes the Equality Act will eventually become law, despite longstanding political obstacles.
Pelosi is a longtime Democratic politician who represented San Francisco in the US House for decades and served as Speaker of the House, the first woman to hold the role. She has remained publicly supportive of LGBTQ rights and HIV/AIDS funding efforts, and has spoken about working at a national level to restore gender-affirming care for trans kids.
