Encouraging the celebration of the month of June as LGBTQIA+ Pride Month.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1405 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1405

  Encouraging the celebration of the month of June as LGBTQIA+ Pride
                                 Month.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 30, 2026

Mr. Green of Texas (for himself, Ms. Barragan, Ms. Brown, Mr. Carter of
  Louisiana, Mr. Case, Ms. Craig, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Mr. Davis of
 Illinois, Ms. DeGette, Ms. DelBene, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mrs. Foushee, Mr.
      Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Khanna, Mr.
Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Lynch, Ms. Meng, Ms. Norton, Ms. Omar, Ms. Scanlon,
   Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Takano, Ms. Titus, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Tokuda, Mr.
  Tonko, Mr. Torres of New York, Mr. Thanedar, Ms. Velazquez, and Ms.
   Wilson of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

  Encouraging the celebration of the month of June as LGBTQIA+ Pride
                                 Month.

Whereas this resolution may be cited as the ``Original LGBTQIA+ Pride Month
        Resolution of 2026'';
Whereas the Honorable Barney Frank, Member of Congress from 1981 to 2013, is
        recognized as an honorary cosponsor of this resolution;
Whereas Members of this Congress support the rights, freedoms, and equality of
        those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and
        asexual (LGBTQIA+);
Whereas, in August of 1966, the ``Screaming Queens'' of the Gene Compton's
        Cafeteria Uprising in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco led one
        of the first recorded transgender uprisings that erupted in response to
        police harassment, and continued to protest police brutality and
        improper policing of the LGBTQIA+ community;
Whereas those who took a stand for human rights and dignity at the Stonewall Inn
        Uprising in New York City on June 28, 1969, were led by two brave and
        visible transgender women of color, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera;
Whereas the LGBTQIA+ protesters at the Stonewall Inn Uprising and Gene Compton's
        Cafeteria Uprising were subject to police harassment and invidious
        discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity;
Whereas within years of these decisive moments in history, LGBTQIA+ rights
        organizations were created in every major city of the United States;
Whereas Brenda Howard, a bisexual rights activist often called ``The Mother of
        Pride'', helped to plan a Gay Pride Week and the Christopher Street
        Liberation Day Parade in June of 1970 to commemorate the first
        anniversary of the Stonewall Inn Uprising;
Whereas Brenda Howard's Gay Pride Week and the Christopher Street Liberation Day
        Parade evolved into the annual New York City Pride March, and Pride
        celebrations are now known around the world;
Whereas, in December of 1973, the Board of the American Psychiatric Association
        voted to remove homosexuality from the American Psychiatric
        Association's list of mental illnesses;
Whereas, in 1974, Elaine Noble became the first openly LGBTQIA+ candidate
        elected to a State legislature in the United States when she won a seat
        in the Massachusetts House of Representatives;
Whereas, in 1975, the Civil Service Commission eliminated the ban on the
        employment of gay people in most Federal jobs;
Whereas, on January 8, 1978, Harvey Milk made national news when he was sworn in
        as an openly gay member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors;
Whereas, on June 25, 1978, gay artist Gilbert Baker debuted a rainbow flag at
        the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day, and the flag was officially
        established as a symbol for LGBTQIA+ pride in 1994;
Whereas, in October of 1979, 75,000 people participated in the National March on
        Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights to demand equal civil rights for
        LGBTQIA+ people;
Whereas, in 1982, Wisconsin became the first State to ban discrimination on the
        basis of sexual orientation;
Whereas, in 1983, after initial refusal from lead organizers to allow an openly
        LGBTQIA+ person to speak, Audre Lorde, a Black lesbian feminist, poet,
        and civil rights activist, was selected by Black LGBTQIA+ groups to
        speak at the 20th-anniversary commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King,
        Jr.'s March on Washington in 1963;
Whereas, in 1987, Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts became the first
        United States Representative to voluntarily come out as an openly gay
        Member of Congress;
Whereas Urvashi Vaid cofounded the Creating Change Conference in 1988, the
        largest annual LGBTQIA+ conference convening in the United States;
Whereas, in 1999, Monica Helms, a transgender activist, author, and United
        States Navy veteran, designed the transgender flag and introduced it at
        the 2000 Phoenix Pride parade to represent the rights and diversity of
        transgender people;
Whereas, on April 25, 1993, more than a million people took part in the March on
        Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation, one of
        the largest protests in United States history;
Whereas, on October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of
        Wyoming, was beaten, tortured, and left to die, drawing attention to
        LGBTQIA+ hate crimes and ultimately contributing to the passage of the
        Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009;
Whereas, on November 28, 1998, Rita Hester, a Black transgender woman, was
        brutally murdered in her home, sparking the advent of Transgender Day of
        Remembrance, which is observed every year on November 20th to remember
        those who have been killed due to transphobia;
Whereas, in 2002, David Cicilline was elected mayor of Providence, Rhode Island,
        and became the first openly gay mayor of a state capital;
Whereas, on June 26, 2003, the Supreme Court of the United States held in
        Lawrence v. Texas that, under the 14th Amendment, States could not
        criminalize the private, intimate relationships of same-sex couples;
Whereas, in 2008, a Latino transgender man, Diego Miguel Sanchez, became the
        first openly transgender person appointed to the Platform Committee of
        the Democratic National Committee;
Whereas, on November 4, 2008, Stu Rasmussen of Silverton, Oregon, became the
        first openly transgender person to be elected mayor in the United
        States;
Whereas, on October 28, 2009, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate
        Crimes Prevention Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by
        President Barack Obama, expanding existing Federal hate crime laws to
        include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender,
        sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability;
Whereas, on November 17, 2010, Phyllis Frye was appointed to the City of Houston
        Municipal Courts as the first openly transgender judge appointed in the
        United States;
Whereas Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed the repeal of Defense
        Directive 1304.26 (``Don't Ask, Don't Tell'') in December of 2010,
        allowing gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons to serve openly in the
        United States Armed Forces;
Whereas, in October of 2011, the Girl Scouts of Colorado opened membership to a
        7-year-old transgender girl;
Whereas, in December of 2011, Lane Lewis became the first gay man elected County
        Chair of the Democratic Party of Harris County, the 3rd largest county
        in the United States;
Whereas, on April 20, 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled
        that discrimination on the basis of gender identity is ``sex
        discrimination'' for purposes of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
        1964;
Whereas, on November 6, 2012, Representative Mark Takano of California, a
        Japanese American, became the first openly gay person of color elected
        to Congress;
Whereas, in 2013, the first LGBTQIA+ Pride Month resolution was introduced by
        Representative Al Green of Texas;
Whereas, on January 3, 2013, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin was sworn in as the
        first openly gay United States Senator;
Whereas, on January 3, 2013, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona was sworn in as the first
        openly bisexual Member of Congress;
Whereas, on March 7, 2013, the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 was
        reauthorized and included protections for transgender persons;
Whereas, on June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court held in United States v. Windsor
        that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional and
        that the Federal Government cannot discriminate against married same-sex
        couples when determining Federal rights, benefits, and obligations;
Whereas, on November 20, 2013, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded the
        Presidential Medal of Freedom to Bayard Rustin, a civil rights pioneer
        and openly gay Black man who organized the March on Washington in 1963
        and presented the crucial ten demands of the March on Washington in the
        summer of 1963;
Whereas, on June 17, 2014, Darrin P. Gayles became the first openly gay Black
        man to be confirmed as a Federal judge;
Whereas, on July 21, 2014, President Barack Obama took action to protect
        LGBTQIA+ workers by signing an Executive order prohibiting Federal
        contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or
        gender identity;
Whereas, on June 8, 2015, Olympic triathlete Chris Mosier became the first
        transgender athlete to earn a spot on Team USA;
Whereas, on June 9, 2015, the equal opportunity policy of the United States
        Armed Forces was updated to protect servicemembers from harassment and
        discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation;
Whereas, on June 23, 2015, Stonewall Inn in New York City received a landmark
        designation by the Landmarks Preservation Commission of New York City so
        that the Stonewall Inn cannot be torn down or developed without
        approval;
Whereas, on June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges held in a
        5-4 ruling that the 14th Amendment requires all States to license
        marriages between same-sex couples and to recognize all marriages that
        were lawfully performed in a different State;
Whereas, on July 17, 2015, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled
        that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is ``sex
        discrimination'' for purposes of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
        1964;
Whereas since the 114th Congress, the Equality Act has been introduced every
        Congress, first by Representative David Cicilline and most recently by
        Representative Mark Takano, to amend the Nation's Federal civil rights
        laws to explicitly include sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex
        characteristics among the prohibited categories of discrimination in
        employment, housing, credit, education, public accommodation, federally
        funded programs, and jury service; it passed the House of
        Representatives with bipartisan support in both the 116th and 117th
        Congresses;
Whereas, in February of 2016, the Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce
        launched, becoming one of the leading economic voices in the greater
        Houston region, focusing on economic empowerment and inclusion for
        LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs and professionals;
Whereas, on May 13, 2016, the Department of Justice and the Department of
        Education jointly released guidance to provide educators the information
        they need to ensure that transgender students attend school in an
        environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex;
Whereas, on May 18, 2016, Eric Fanning was sworn in as Secretary of the Army,
        the first time a branch of the United States Armed Forces was led by an
        openly gay person;
Whereas members of the LGBTQIA+ community are disproportionately affected by
        violence, including fatal violence with guns, intimate partner violence,
        and hate crimes;
Whereas, on June 12, 2016, one of the deadliest mass shootings in the modern
        history of the United States occurred at the gay nightclub Pulse in
        Orlando, Florida, on Latin night, leaving 49 people dead and another 58
        people wounded;
Whereas between 2017 and 2022, more than 70 percent of known fatal violent
        activities toward transgender and gender-nonconforming people have
        involved a gun;
Whereas more than 40 percent of transgender adults report having attempted
        suicide in their lifetime;
Whereas according to a 2020 systematic review, transgender people are 1.7 times
        more likely to experience some form of intimate partner violence
        compared to cisgender people, and 2.5 times more likely to experience
        sexual intimate partner violence;
Whereas LGBTQIA+ people are five times more likely than non-LGBTQIA+ people to
        be victims of violent hate crimes;
Whereas LGBTQIA+ youth experience dating violence at rates significantly higher
        than their non-LGBTQIA+ peers;
Whereas, on June 30, 2016, the Department of Defense announced an immediate
        policy change allowing transgender servicemembers to serve openly
        without fear of retribution or penalty;
Whereas, on July 28, 2016, Sarah McBride, national press secretary for the Human
        Rights Campaign, spoke at the Democratic National Convention, making her
        the first transgender person to address a major party convention;
Whereas, on November 8, 2016, Kate Brown of Oregon became the first openly
        bisexual person to win a gubernatorial election;
Whereas, on January 30, 2017, the Boy Scouts of America announced that they
        would open membership to transgender boys;
Whereas, on June 27, 2017, residents of the District of Columbia became the
        first in the United States to be allowed to select a gender-neutral
        option on their driver's license;
Whereas, on November 7, 2017, the election of Andrea Jenkins to the Minneapolis
        City Council made her the first openly transgender woman to be elected
        to public office in a major United States city;
Whereas, on November 7, 2017, Phillipe Cunningham's election to the Minneapolis
        City Council made him the first openly transgender man to be elected to
        the city council of a major United States city;
Whereas, on November 7, 2017, Danica Roem of Virginia became the first openly
        transgender person to be elected to and seated in a State legislature;
Whereas, on November 6, 2018, Democratic Representative Jared Polis was elected
        Governor of Colorado, becoming the first openly gay man to be elected
        Governor in the United States;
Whereas, in April of 2019, Morehouse College announced that the historically
        all-male school would begin admitting transgender men in 2020;
Whereas, on May 20, 2019, Lori Lightfoot was sworn in as Mayor of Chicago,
        becoming the first Black lesbian mayor;
Whereas, on May 24, 2019, Taiwan became the first nation in Asia to legally
        recognize same-sex marriage;
Whereas, on June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court held that title VII of the Civil
        Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex,
        also applies to sexual orientation and gender identity, and President
        Joe Biden took steps to enforce all sex nondiscrimination laws to
        prohibit anti-LGBTQIA+ discrimination;
Whereas, in November of 2020, Representatives Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones,
        both Members of Congress representing New York districts, became the
        first openly gay Black persons elected to Congress;
Whereas, on March 24, 2021, Admiral Rachel Levine became the first openly
        transgender person to hold an office requiring confirmation by the
        Senate, and on October 19, 2021, became the first openly transgender
        four-star officer in the uniformed services;
Whereas, on May 16, 2022, Karine Jean-Pierre became the first openly lesbian
        African-American White House Press Secretary;
Whereas, on January 2, 2023, Zooey Zephyr became the first openly transwoman to
        serve in the Montana State legislature and was later barred from the
        Montana House floor after her comments rebuking proposed legislation
        that would ban gender-affirming care for children;
Whereas, on October 1, 2023, Laphonza Butler was appointed to the United States
        Senate, becoming the first openly lesbian Black Senator;
Whereas, on February 8, 2024, Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old Indigenous TNB+
        (transgender and nonbinary) student in Oklahoma, died following a
        physical altercation in school that resulted in hospitalization;
Whereas, on January 3, 2025, Sarah McBride became the first openly transgender
        Member of Congress, making her the highest ranking openly transgender
        public official in United States history;
Whereas the Trump administration has repeatedly targeted the rights of LGBTQIA+
        people, especially transgender people; Whereas the American Civil
        Liberties Union is currently tracking more than 529 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills
        that have been introduced in State legislatures across the United States
        thus far in 2026;
Whereas many of these bills disproportionately target transgender individuals,
        including by restricting access to health care, education, public
        accommodations, legal recognition, and other aspects of public life; and
Whereas, despite these attacks, the inclusion and acceptance of LGBTQIA+ persons
        in the United States continues to expand, with an understanding that
        Americans will remain steadfast in pursuing the goal of complete
        equality and respect for all, regardless of whom they love or who they
        are: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
        queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) rights are human rights
        and are protected by the Constitution;
            (2) recognizes that all United States citizens should be
        treated fairly and equally regardless of sexual orientation,
        sex characteristics, or gender identity and that LGBTQIA+
        history plays an integral role in the history of the United
        States;
            (3) acknowledges the struggle of the Stonewall Inn and Gene
        Compton's Cafeteria protesters and countless other lesbian,
        gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual people
        for equality;
            (4) encourages the celebration of LGBTQIA+ Pride Month to
        provide a continuing opportunity for all people in the United
        States to learn about the discrimination and inequality that
        lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and
        asexual people have faced, and continue to face, in tandem with
        triumphs over tragedy and victories in spite of barriers; and
            (5) agrees that the United States must continue to strive
        to ensure that the promise of equality is realized for all
        people of the United States.
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