House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks at a press conference announcing the Equality Act’s reintroduction in 2023. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will receive the Chris Abele Impact Award at the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute’s 2026 conference in D.C. in December.
The Victory Institute, a national nonprofit that works to get LGBTQ elected officials and appointed leaders at every level of government, will honor Pelosi for her work supporting the LGBTQ community during her nearly 40 years in public office.
Pelosi has a long history of working with the LGBTQ community.
As the representative for San Francisco, a city with a long LGBTQ history, she directly pushed legislation to help the LGBTQ community.
Pelosi led multiple landmark pieces of LGBTQ legislation through Congress, including the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and multiple U.S. House of Representatives approvals of the Equality Act. She also played a central role in congressional efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and oppose restrictions targeting transgender Americans.
The award will be presented during the Victory Institute’s International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference. This year, it will take place Dec. 3-5 at the JW Marriott in D.C. This will mark the 43rd annual International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference, which includes three days of networking and skills-building to “strategize the year ahead in our movement for equality.”
During her interview with the Washington Blade earlier this year, Pelosi emphasized that it was the community — specifically, those passionate about fighting for LGBTQ acceptance and action — that made her work possible on Capitol Hill.
“Anything that we accomplished, whether it was fighting HIV and AIDS, ending discrimination, passing hate crimes legislation, or ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ would never have happened without outside mobilization,” Pelosi told the Blade. “Our inside maneuvering was important, but we couldn’t do our best job without the community. Every chance I get, I thank them for their patriotism because they make democracy function.”
She also touched on the importance of codifying marriage rights for same-sex couples in federal legislation in the event that the issue is take up by the conservative U.S. Supreme Court.
“We passed it in the House again and again,” she said. “The Senate is more difficult because of the procedural hurdles, but we’re not stopping. We’ll stick with it until the job is done.”
Last year, the Victory Institute gave the Chris Abele Impact Award to former President Joe Biden for his outspoken acceptance of the LGBTQ community well before it became a mainstream part of the Democratic platform.
Registration for the International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference is open now on the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute’s website at victoryinstitute.org/conference.
The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 legacy publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400K in print and more than 1 million + online. Learn more here: NationalLGBTMediaAssociation.com.
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