120th US Congress to become most LGBT-representative in country's history

Historic record in parliamentary composition

The 120th Congress of the United States will become the most representative for the LGBT community in the history of American legislation. This is reported by the publication Breitbart, noting that the number of openly LGBT representatives will reach at least 17 people.

The Congressional Equality Caucus, a group of openly LGBT members of the House of Representatives, published a statement saying: “The American people have made their voice heard. The 120th Congress will officially be the gayest Congress in history!.. Time to get to work”.

Key candidate victories

Breitbart details which politicians will enter the new Congress, setting new precedents for their states and ethnic groups:

• Chris Pappas (Democrat from New Hampshire), who openly identifies as gay, won the Senate election.
• J.D. Ford (Democrat, openly gay) won in Indiana's 5th congressional district.
• Sharice Davids (lesbian Democrat) was re-elected in Kansas.
• Ritchie Torres (Democrat from New York) won the election. The publication Advocate describes him as the “first openly gay Afro-Latino member of Congress”.
• Jeremy Moss (Democrat) won in Michigan, becoming the first openly gay legislator in the House of Representatives from this state.

Meanwhile, Breitbart did not provide information on the presence of LGBT representatives among Republicans in the new Congress composition.

Expected changes in internal rules

According to a forecast by the Queer News Tonight programme, the first step for the Congress, which will be controlled by Democrats, will be a change in internal rules. This will allow a biological male who identifies as a woman to use women's restrooms in the Congress chambers. This refers to House member Sara McBride (Democrat from Delaware), who was previously known by the name Tim.