Rep. Mark Takano to lead Congressional Equality Caucus
Gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) will chair the LGBTQ Congressional Equality Caucus in the newly seated 119th Congress, he told Axios on Friday. “Over the next several years, we will see a constant barrage of attacks on the rights and dignity of the queer community—especially against our transgender siblings,” Takano said. “I will lead our coalition of openly-LGBTQI+ members and our allies in the fight to both defend the queer community and push equality forward, including by reintroducing the Equality Act.” The caucus was founded in 2008 by then-U.S.
Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Tammy Badwin (D-Wis.), the latter going on to represent The Badger State in the U.S. Senate since 2013, when she became the first LGBTQ member to serve in the upper chamber.
Led in the last Congress by U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), the caucus’s chair and eight co-chairs are out and LGBTQ. There are a couple dozen vice-chairs and more than 160 other members, all Democrats.
In recent battles over must-pass appropriations bills, the caucus opposed House Republicans’ insistence on including anti-LGBTQ “poison pill” policy riders, meticulously chronicling their efforts to politicize government funding.
