Pappas Marks Start of Pride 2026

Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), Co-Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus and New Hampshire’s first openly gay member of Congress, issued the following statement to mark the start of Pride Month:

“Pride month marks the hard-fought progress that we've achieved as a community and brings people together in support of full equality and a future where everyone can live as their authentic selves. We must confront hate and intolerance and keep marching forward to ensure all Americans have the same freedoms, rights, and responsibilities.”

Pappas serves as Co-Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus and is New Hampshire’s first openly gay member of Congress. In his role as Co-Chair of the Equality Caucus, he has helped to introduce and pass the Equality Act through the House of Representatives and enact the Respect for Marriage Act into law. Pappas also leads the LGBTQ+ Panic Defense Prohibition Act, which would ban the use of panic defenses based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression in federal courts; the SERVE Act, which would guarantee and protect VA benefits for LGBTQ+ veterans discharged under discriminatory policies; and led successful calls for the Food and Drug Administration to reassess policy that blocked members of the LGBTQ+ community from donating blood. He is advocating for the administration to restore funding for the LGBTQ+ 988 Lifeline.

In response to President Trump’s Executive Order banning transgender individuals from serving in the military, Pappas has been an outspoken advocate for trans servicemembers, including leading an appropriations request to prohibit any funding for the Department of Defense to implement the ban, and he is a cosponsor of the Fit to Serve Act, legislation to prohibit discrimination in the Armed Forces on the basis of gender identity.