Press Releases

Following Dr. Everton Blair’s historic win as the first openly-gay Black representative from the South, the Congressional Equality Caucus (CEC) is honored to announce that Rep. Everton Blair will join as a Co-Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus. Today, CEC Chair Takano and Co-Chair Blair released the following statements:

Following reporting that the Department of Defense has failed to pay the promised separation pay to some transgender servicemembers who were separated from the armed forces under Trump’s ban on transgender military service in a timely manner or, in some cases, at all, members of Congress today sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Hegseth to demand answers.

Today, Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03), Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE-D), Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Grace Meng (NY-06), Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Mark Takano (CA-39) and Representative Jerrold Nadler (NY-12) led 112 Members of Congress & Senators in a letter urging the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to reverse its proposed rule that would end the Equal Employment Opportunity reporting requirements to collect demographic data.

Today, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39), Senator Tammy Baldwin (WI), and Senator Jeff Merkley (OR) led 179 Members of Congress in filing an amicus brief at the Supreme Court in the case of St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, where religious preschools are seeking an exemption from the nondiscrimination provision in Colorado’s universal preschool program so they can refuse to admit LGBTQ+ children or the children of LGBTQ+ people while still receiving public funding.

On August 11, the Trump Administration released a final rule that prohibits Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) from covering medically-necessary care to transgender youth with federal funding. In response, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano released the following statement:

Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, and Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Mark Takano (D-CA) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner signed by over 120 House Democrats urging the immediate withdrawal of HUD’s proposed rule, “Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Revisions,” which would gut existing protections for LGBTQ+ individuals and require HUD-funded shelters to discriminate against transgender people.

After two Republican-sponsored anti-LGBTQI+ amendments were adopted to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 and the bill was passed through the House, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano released the following statement:

After the GOP-controlled House Ways and Means Committee advanced H.R. 9722—a bill that would exempt religious nonprofits from longstanding requirements for 501(c)(3) organizations in order to empower them to discriminate—out of committee, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus Rep. Mark Takano released the following statement: