119th Congress’ LGBTQ members include first trans representative

Thirteen members of the 119th Congress are openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ), according to a Pew Research Center analysis of official biographies, news reports and candidate databases. This total includes Congress’ first openly trans member.

The number of LGBTQ members hasn’t changed since the last Congress, but it has grown markedly since the start of the 111th Congress in 2009. At that time, two members were openly gay men and one was a lesbian, according to data from the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, a political action committee that works to elect LGBTQ+ candidates.

One senator and 12 members of the House of Representatives identify as lesbian, gay, transgender or queer as of Jan. 3, when the 119th Congress was sworn in.

How we did this

This analysis is part of Pew Research Center’s work to analyze the demographic makeup of the 119th U.S. Congress. To determine the number of lawmakers in the current and previous Congresses who are openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, we used data from the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, a political action committee that works to elect LGBTQ+ politicians; Brookings Vital Statistics on Congress; and our own analysis of official biographies, campaign websites and news articles.

Our analysis reflects the 533 voting members of Congress as of Jan. 3, 2025, the first day of the new Congress. It does not include the Florida House seat vacated by former Rep. Matt Gaetz or the Senate seat that former West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice assumed on Jan. 14.

For data on the 118th Congress, we exclude Democratic Sen. Laphonza Butler who was appointed in 2023 to fill a vacancy but didn’t seek reelection. Butler was the first Black openly lesbian U.S. senator. This analysis of LGBTQ representation among senators and representatives is limited to the gender and sexual identities that have been openly represented in the U.S. Congress. As of the 119th Congress, this includes lesbian, gay, transgender and queer members. No current members publicly identify as bisexual.

The only bisexual member of the last Congress, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, did not seek reelection in 2024. That means Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin – elected in 2012 as the first openly gay senator – is again the Senate’s only LGBTQ lawmaker.

All 13 openly LGBTQ members of the new Congress are Democrats. Ten are returning members and three are new.

In the House, Sarah McBride of Delaware is the first openly transgender member of Congress. Two other incoming House members also made history:

• Julie Johnson became the first openly gay member of Congress to represent Texas – or any Southern state.
• Emily Randall, who identifies as queer, became the first Hispanic or Latina LGBTQ member of Congress and the first openly LGBTQ member to represent Washington.

Across both chambers, six members are gay men. Seven are women who are gay, lesbian, transgender or queer.

Members of Congress who are openly LGBTQ account for 2.4% of the 533 voting lawmakers sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025. But LGBTQ+ Americans made up 7.6% of the adult population overall in 2023, according to Gallup surveys.

November’s election also brought several firsts at the state level. LGBTQ candidates won legislative seats in 39 states, according to Victory Fund data and news reports. In Texas, Molly Cook, who is bisexual, became the first openly LGBTQ person elected to a full term in the state Senate.

Hawaii, Iowa and Missouri each elected their first openly transgender state legislators – Kim Coco Iwamoto, Aime Wichtendahl and Wick Thomas, respectively. RaShaun Kemp of Georgia and Amaad Rivera-Wagner of Wisconsin became the first openly gay Black men elected to their states’ legislatures.