Last week, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) became the first person in 64 years to return to the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives. She’s the only woman to hold the office and the first person to repeat in the office since Sam Rayburn, who served a record 17 years as speaker over three different periods. She’s now second in line to the president and is the highest-ranking elected woman in U.S. history.

Pelosi’s credibility with LGBT voters is ironclad. In November, 102 LGBT leaders announced they “enthusiastically endorsed” her to return to the speakership. “There is no better ally to the LGBT community on Capitol Hill than Leader Pelosi, period,” the group said in a statement.

Here are some highlights — some wonky and serious, some lighter. In no particular order:

• Pelosi has long stood in favor of same-sex marriage. In 1996, Pelosi voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that prior to being ruled unconstitutional, defined marriage as one man and one woman. In 2004 and 2006, Pelosi voted against a proposed Federal Marriage Amendment that would have amended the Constitution to define marriage federally as one man, one woman. And in 2008, Pelosi voiced opposition to Proposition 8, a successful ballot initiative that defined California marriage similarly. Pelosi told the Washington Post in 2012 that her Roman Catholic faith — despite official church teaching — compels her “to be against discrimination of any kind in our country.” Read more and see some great archive photos via Washington Blade