Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has always had perfect timing. Just 36 hours after an off-year election that saw Donald Trumps agenda universally repudiated, the Speaker Emeritus took a bow.On Thursday morning, the San Francisco Democrat, a longtime champion of LGBTQ+ rights, announced her coming retirement after six decades of public service. Related Out 55-year-old lawmaker Scott Wiener is running to replace 85-year-old Democrat icon Nancy Pelosi Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today I have truly loved serving as your voice in Congress, and I have always honored the song of St. Francis, Lord make an instrument of thy peace, the anthem of our city, Pelosi, 85, said in a video addressed to her constituents. That is why I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know: I will not be seeking reelection to Congress.With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative, Pelosi added. As we go forward, my message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power. We have made history. We have made progress. We have always led the way, and now we must continue to do so by remaining full participants in our Democracy and fighting for the American ideals we hold dear. Pelosis exit from the arena marks the end of a what will be a 40-year career in Congress when she leaves office in 2027. She spent eight of those years as Speaker of the House, the first woman ever elected to the post.After Democrats narrowly lost control of the House in 2022, Pelosi returned to the House rank-and-file she first joined in 1987.Her support for the LGBTQ+ community in Congress began with her advocacy for those impacted by HIV/AIDS.In her very first speech on the House floor, Pelosi challenged colleagues and then-President Ronald to take up the fight against the epidemic then gripping San Francisco and the gay community nationwide. Now we must take leadership, of course, in the crisis of AIDS, Pelosi said. And I look forward to working with you on that. Reagan publicly acknowledged the epidemic for the first time just weeks later.Pelosi co-authored the Ryan White CARE Act, famously testifying alongside celebrity advocate Elizabeth Taylor during a hearing in 1990. President George H. W. Bush signed the bill into law later that year.The congresswoman was among the few members of the House and Senate to vote against the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996, and later the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have amended the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. She shepherded the Respect for Marriage Act through the House near the end of her speakership in 2022. In answer to questions in 2012 about efforts to ban same-sex marriage, Pelosi cited her Catholic faith.My religion compels me and I love it for it to be against discrimination of any kind in our country, and I consider it a form of discrimination. I think its unconstitutional on top of that, she said.Pelosi is a longtime supporter of the Equality Act, which would expand the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. She oversaw passage of the bill in the House. As Speaker, Pelosi helped pass the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the very first LGBTQ-affirming federal law, signed by President Obama in 2009. In 2010, she led Congress in the repeal of Dont Ask, Dont Tell, the militarys ban on LGBTQ+ servicemembers.Pelosi has been an ardent supporter of trans rights, joining colleagues hanging the trans standard in House and Senate office hallways in 2019 to protest Donald Trumps first ban on transgender service members. In 2020, she voiced her support for trans student-athletes.Pelosi has been one of Trumps fiercest critics since his earliest days in office. The two famously got into a shouting match at one Oval Office summit in 2018, and Pelosi shredded the presidents State of the Union message for cameras after his address in 2020. In June, Pelosi excoriated Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for erasing slain San Francisco Supervisor and LGBTQ+ icon Harvey Milks name from a Navy ship bearing it.Our military is the most powerful in the world but this spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the warrior ethos, Pelosi said. Instead, it is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country.Pelosis retirement has been long-anticipated, but she kept potential challengers guessing until today.California State Senator and San Francisco resident Scott Weiner (D-SF), who gently nudged the Speaker Emeritus for months before announcing his own candidacy for her seat last month, had kind words for his longtime U.S. representative.Thank you, Madam Speaker, Weiner posted to social after Pelosis announcement. In 1987, I was a closeted teenager terrified of a world that seemed determined to eliminate gay people. You used your platform in Congress to fight AIDS to fight for people like me.Your example gives me courage to confront the challenges & fight bigotry thats rising today. Well always be grateful, he added.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.