Press Releases

Ahead of the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments in Chiles v. Salazar today, a case on the constitutionality of Colorado’s ban on licensed mental health professionals engaging in conversion therapy for minors, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano and Vice Chair Rep. Ted Lieu released the following statements:

After comments by two Republican Members of Congress calling for the institutionalization of transgender people, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39) released the following statement:

Last week, the Co-Chairs of the Congressional Equality Caucus’s International LGBTQI+ Rights Task Force—Rep. Robert Garcia (CA-42), Rep. Julie Johnson (TX-32), and Rep. Sarah McBride (DE-AL)—led 61 Members of Congress in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio opposing the removal of LGBTQI-specific data from the 2024 Country Report on Human Rights and urging its restoration.

After the House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, including with six Republican-sponsored anti-LGBTQI+ amendments, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Mark Takano released the following statement:

Today, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39) released the following statement after the House passed the FY26 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which contained several anti-LGBTQI+ riders:

Senator John Fetterman (PA), Senator Brian Schatz (HI), Congressional Equality Caucus (CEC) Chair Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39), and CEC Co-Chair and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Agriculture Angie Craig (MN-02) led 42 Members of Congress in a letter urging Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to reverse USDA’s narrowing of LGBTQI+ nondiscrimination protections in federal anti-hunger programs:

Today, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39), Congressional Equality Caucus Vice Chair & House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Rep. Ted Lieu (CA-36), and Senator Jeff Merkley (OR) filed an amicus brief to urge the United States Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of Colorado’s ban on mental health professionals engaging in conversion therapy for minors in the case of Chiles v. Salazar.

Today, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39) condemned the State Department’s erasure of LGBTQI+ people from the 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: