Sarah McBride made history last year when she was elected to the Delaware State Senate, becoming the first transgender state senator in the country and making her the highest-ranking transgender official in United States history.
In 2013, McBride joined the board of directors of Equality Delaware and quickly became the state’s leading advocate for legal protections and hate crimes legislation for transgender Delawareans. She is largely credited with the passage of legislation in Delaware banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity in employment, housing, insurance and public accommodations. In 2016, she became the first openly transgender person to address a major party convention in American history when she spoke at the Democratic National Convention.
“I’ll be frank. From my perspective, if bigots are angry with me, I’m doing something right,” McBride told Harper’s Bazaar this January. “I will not let hatred or even threats of violence prevent me from speaking out against injustice and pushing forward the kinds of policies that I believe benefit all of us as a society. I am clear eyed on the challenges. I am not naive to the barriers, and I’m certainly aware of the risks. But I can handle that. I’m lucky, and whatever risks I face pale in comparison to the challenges and the risks facing far too many people—trans or not—throughout our society.”
