U.S. Elects First Transgender State Senator
This month Delaware elected Sarah McBride as a senator. McBride is an American activist and politician who is the first transgender senator in the United States. She will be sworn in as Delaware’s newest electee in January 2021. She is currently the Secretary of the Human Rights Campaign.
McBride was born on August 9th, 1990 in New Castle, Delaware. Before coming out, McBride was a campaign staffer in Delaware. She worked on several campaigns such as Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden’s 2010 campaign and Jack Markell’s 2008 campaign. In 2011 she was elected student body president at American University. She gained international attention during her last week of being student body president when she came out as a transgender woman in her college newspaper.
McBride coming out was featured on NPR, The Huffington Post, and in Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation. Joe Biden also reached out to her several times to share how proud he was of her. In 2012 she interned at The White House, becoming the first openly transgender woman to work there. She worked in The White House Office of Public Engagement where she focused on LGBTQ issues.
A year later, McBride joined the board of directors of equality and became the state’s leading advocate for legal protection and hate crimes. After the passage of Delaware’s gender identity protection and hate crimes legislation, she worked for the LGBTQ Process team. McBride has spoken at a number of colleges and LGBTQ events, such as The Human Right Campaign National Dinner, The University of Pennsylvania, and Gettysburg College. In 2014 she was ranked the most valuable progressive in Delaware. On July 28, 2016 she became the first openly transgender person to speak at the Nation party convention. Clearly, McBride is a torchbearer for transgender people everywhere.
By: Shana Baker