Nevada State Assemblywoman Sarah Peters came out as pansexual on March 25 during National LGBT health awareness week at an assembly floor session raising awareness of LGBTQ+ health in Nevada.

She said the following in her allotted time, “In the past decade, Nevada has made unprecedented progress in being a more equitable home for our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community.

In fact, Nevada was recently recognized by USA Today as the best state in America for people who are LGBTQ+ and yesterday this body passed the Equal Rights Amendment, that if passed by voters would enshrine in our state’s constitution equal rights for all Nevadans.

However, LGBTQ+ people continue to encounter barriers and face discrimination based on their orientation or gender identity in daily life. Homophobia stigmas and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community continue to exist in the United States and can adversely impact health outcomes.

In fact, the Center for American Progress has found that LGBTQ+ individuals are twice as likely to be uninsured or choose to forego care due to concerns of how they are treated.

These issues will continue to persist without continued intervention and all people including those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer deserve access to quality health care.

I applaud the work of our Department of Health and Human Services for continued advocacy for LGBTQ+ health including aligning prevention and care delivery with existing evidence-based culturally sensitive standards of care for LGBTQ+ patients.

We were one of the first states to begin collecting sexual orientation and gender identity data as part of COVID-19 contact tracing to better understand the impact of the pandemic on the LGBTQ+ community.

We’ve also identified LGBTQ+ as an important factor in data-driven policy development across all health care issues. Today, as a pansexual cis-gendered woman I stand out for equity and remind us to be inclusive in our LGBTQ+ community while we work to make Nevada a more equitable place for all.”

The assemblywoman's statement and coming out was followed by the applause from others attending the session.