House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent announcement that she would step down from the Democratic House leadership when the new Congress begins in January was not unexpected. After all, she had agreed to do so years ago in a compromise with House Democrats, but it still sent shockwaves as San Francisco residents and other Californians have come to terms with the fact that we will lose an influential voice in the leadership ranks that really helped LGBTQ people and people living with HIV/AIDS. While Pelosi will remain in Congress and represent San Francisco — she was just handily reelected in the November 8 midterms — the Golden State stands to lose some institutional power now that the next minority leader is Congressmember Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York). Unfortunately, the Republicans took control of the House following the election, albeit with a slim majority. Pelosi's leadership legacy in the fight for HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ rights is unmatched — and we deeply appreciate her accomplishments.
It's fitting that on this World AIDS Day we recall that Pelosi has always been an unwavering ally for those living with the disease. Her actions as a top House Democrat over the years have helped save lives both in the U.S. and around the world. Her first speech on the floor of the House, on June 9, 1987, dealt with the epidemic that was ravaging her congressional district as well as many other places in the U.S. "... Now we must take leadership of course in the crisis of AIDS," she said. At the time the federal government's response to HIV/AIDS was abysmal, and President Ronald Reagan had waited until September 17, 1985 — four years after the disease was discovered — to first publicly mention AIDS. And Pelosi did take leadership on HIV/AIDS, working to accelerate development of an HIV vaccine, expanding access to Medicaid for people living with HIV, and increasing funding for the Ryan White CARE program, the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative and other research, care, treatment, prevention and search for a cure initiatives vital to people living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS, as her congressional website notes. An AIDS vaccine remains elusive, but researchers continue to work on the issue.
In 1996, Pelosi successfully spearheaded the passage of legislation designating San Francisco's AIDS Memorial Grove, located in Golden Gate Park, as a national memorial of the United States. Pelosi has celebrated multiple anniversaries of her service representing San Francisco by volunteering at the grove, which will hold its annual World AIDS Day observance December 1.
She has worked with Republican and Democratic presidents. She supported President George W. Bush's President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, because disease knows no borders, as we've repeatedly seen, not only with HIV/AIDS, but COVID-19, MPX, and others. PEPFAR, a global initiative, is aimed at combating AIDS in Africa and other countries, its website notes. Most significantly, in her first stint as House speaker, she helped secure passage of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act in 2010, which expanded health care access to millions of people.
Pelosi has supported the LGBTQ community, through good times and bad. She has attended the pink triangle ceremony that is held in San Francisco over Pride weekend and participated in the Pride parade. Legislatively, she has led Congress to twice pass the Equality Act; this landmark legislation extends the protections of the Civil Rights Act to LGBTQ Americans — barring discrimination in employment, education, access to credit, jury service, federal funding, housing and public accommodations. Unfortunately, the legislation remains stalled in the U.S. Senate.
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning Roe V. Wade, in which Justice Clarence Thomas suggested in a concurring opinion that other precedents, such as the legalization of same-sex marriage, also be considered for reversal, Pelosi led the House Democrats earlier this year to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which will repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. The Senate also passed a version of the bill, and once an amendment is approved by the House, it will be sent to President Joe Biden, who said he would sign it.
After the tragic mass shootings at LGBTQ nightclubs — Pulse in Orlando, Florida in 2016 and more recently, Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado on November 19 — Pelosi has mourned the loss of life in traditionally safe spaces for LGBTQ people and reiterated calls for more gun safety legislation. (In June, Biden signed the most significant gun safety legislation in years. The bipartisan bill was passed by the House and Senate in the wake of the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.)
We look forward to Pelosi's future as she seeks to carve out her own post-leadership role in the next Congress. She will do so on her own terms and, whatever form it takes, San Franciscans can know they have a representative who will continue to work for them and the country.
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