To celebrate pride month, we’re highlighting some of the amazing people who paved the way for LGBTQIA+ representation in American politics:

Kathy Kozachenko

First openly gay candidate to run successfully for political office in the United States, 1974

Elaine Noble

First openly gay candidate elected to a state legislature, 1974

Harvey Milk

One of the first openly gay men in the United States to win an election for public office, 1977

Barney Frank

Second openly gay member of congress, and the first to come out voluntarily, 1987

Tammy Baldwin

First openly LGBT non-incumbent elected to the United States Congress, 1998; First openly gay U.S. Senator, 2012

Annise Parker

First openly gay person elected mayor of one of the top ten cities in the United States, 2009

Maura Healey

First openly gay state attorney general elected in the United States, 2014

Kate Brown

First openly bisexual governor in the United States, 2015

Danica Roem

First openly transgender person to be elected to a state legislature in the United States, 2017

Phillipe Cunningham

One of the first openly transgender men to be elected to public office in the United States, 2017

Andrea Jenkins

First African-American openly transgender woman elected to public office in the United States, 2017

Sharice Davids

First openly LGBT Native American elected to the United States Congress, 2018

Pete Buttigieg

First openly gay presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, 2019

Lori Lightfoot

One of the first openly gay women elected mayor of one of the top ten cities in the United States, 2019