December 3, 2024 • 12 mins
Newly elected Congresswoman Sarah McBride is the first trans person to serve in the US House of Representatives. In part one, we dig into Representative Elect McBride's early life.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephan
never told your production by her yo.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And today let me put this date here, December third,
twenty twenty four. We are talking about someone who's been
on a lot of people's minds and really has had
people talking though she doesn't even know a lot of
other people don't exist, like she doesn't know you.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
And yet we're talking about her.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
And yes, we're talking about newly elected Congresswoman Sarah McBride.
Of course, with all of the transphobic rhetoric to happening today,
she has been the topic of a lot of conversation recently.
She has been the main focus for some other members
of Congress who've made it their biggest job, which is
odd because there's a lot happening to make sure she
feels unwelcome, and about her bathroom music, because you know,
(01:00):
that's the most important thing happening here. But before we
dive into that, we want to take a look at
McBride's work and record as a feature of The Activist
around the World. Fyi, this has become a two parter,
so yes, we're going to kind of split about what
is happening, how she got here, and what is happening today,
and then we're going to talk about the reaction, because
(01:21):
there's a lot of comments happening specifically from the trans
community rightly so, so we do want to reflect on
that for those in the trans community, for those in
the queer community. Content warning. Obviously we're going to talk
about anti queer rhetoric and conversation, anti trans rhetoric and conversations.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So this is a bit much.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I understand, but we also do want to take moments
to celebrate a woman who has worked really hard to
get to where she is and felt that it's important
that she does it as her true self, which I
think is a bigger conversation we don't talk about enough
because instead the world is awful.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Anyway, here we go, let's go into it.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So who is Sarah mc McBride has stated she has
always had an interest in politics. Born to David and
Sally McBride in Wilmington, Delaware, McBride isn't a stranger to
policies and standards in general. Her father was a lawyer
while her mother was a counselor, and she actually the
founder of Cabot Callaway School of the Arts, which Sarah
(02:18):
did attend. She soon earned her bachelor's in twenty thirteen
from American University of DC, and is during this time
McBride talks about how her interest in politics really grew.
She had already worked as a staffer for different Delaware campaigns,
including for Governor Jack Markle Attorney General Bo Biden, and
(02:38):
she would soon after be elected as the student body
president at American University. And it was during this time
that McBride came out as trans, and even then she
was getting attention just for existing and coming out. She
made headlines in twenty twelve coming out, and within the
same year she was the first trans woman to work
(02:59):
in the world White House as an intern for the
Obama administration. But as we said, her coming out was
on public display. Here's a bit from her Wikipedia page.
McBride's coming out was featured on NPR, the Huffington Post,
and by Lady Guga's Born This Way Foundation. That's an
interesting added to the other two, but hey, that's interesting.
(03:21):
After coming out, McBride received a call from Delaware Attorney
General Bo Biden saying, quote, Sarah, I just wanted you
to know I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I love you.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
And you're still a part of the Biden family. Vice
President now President Joe Biden expressed similar sentiments, sharing that
he was proud of her and happy for her. So
definitely already has that link. Has been doing this work
for a minute. So one of those moments where I'm like, man,
you did a lot. What was I doing in twenty thirteen?
(03:53):
I was working for the government. I was working for
the government, just not on that level.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Important as well. You were working for feminist content. We
were doing things. We were doing.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
So as an intern, McBride was hard at work advocating
for LGBTQ rights and issues, and she was praised for
her work during her time there. She has acknowledged the
difficulties in coming out. Here's what she published in her
coming out article for the university paper. She writes, I
wrestled with the idea that my dream and my identity
seemed mutually exclusive. I had to pick my life was
(04:29):
passing me by, and I was done wasting it as
someone I wasn't. I'm sure that article was really impactful
as well as very hard to write. From what I
read that it was really moving and touching in the
words that she printed and doing so as a public
figure I couldn't imagine, and becoming her true self propelled
(04:50):
her forward in her activism as well. In twenty thirteen,
McBride was a part of the board of directors of
Equality Delaware, advocating for legal protection for the trends queer community,
and soon she helped pass legislation to help prevent discrimination
based on gender in twenty thirteen in the state of Delaware.
After her success with this legislation, she worked with the
(05:11):
Center of American Progress to advocate for the rights and
protection of the LGBTQ plus community as well. And of course,
during all of this time, she was still heavily involved
in the political world, including speaking at the twenty sixteen
Democratic National Convention during Hillary Clinton's campaign. In the speech,
she paid tribute to her late husband, Andrew Cray, who
(05:31):
was also an activist for the queer community, and though
her husband died a few days after their official wedding,
she has talked openly about the amount of impact Cray
has had on her life, as well as the support
she had from him.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
And with all that, in twenty nineteen, McBride decided to
step into the political arena herself and ran for Delaware Senate,
and in twenty twenty, McBride made history as the first
trans person to be a state senator in the United States.
Here's a bit from her website, Sarah McBride dot com quote.
As a state senator, McBride has passed legislation expanding access
(06:06):
to healthcare, requiring mental health and media literacy education in
public schools, promoting green technologies, preventing lead poisoning and youth,
and protecting workers and families. In just her first term,
McBride passed the landmark Healthy Delaware Families Act, providing paid
family and medical leave to workers throughout the first state,
(06:27):
and marking the largest expansion of Delaware's social safety net
in decades.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
So with all of that under her belt, she has
now been elected as the first transperson in the United
States House of Representatives. She announced her intention to run
in twenty twenty three to replace Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester.
She was actually endorsed by Rochester and in the twenty
twenty four election she won against John wayland IID. Here's
(07:03):
a bit about her win from NBC News. McBride's key
priorities for her congressional run were expanding access to affordable healthcare,
protecting reproductive rights, and increasing the minimum wage. She told
NBC News in September that her goal in Congress was
to work with her colleagues to break through the artisan
gridlock and actually pass legislation, which she became known for
(07:25):
during her time in Delaware's Senate. During her first term,
she helped pass universal paid family and medical leaf across
the state. So pretty big things. Of course, this is
just very minor details that she's done. There's a lot
of impact that she has had within the Delaware Senate,
which is why she was able to be elected. And
the article continues with a statement she made at her celebration. Quote,
(07:47):
tonight is a testament to Delawareans that here in our
state of neighbors, we judge candidates based on their ideas
and not their identities, McBride said at Delaware's Democratic election
Night celebration Tuesday night. She thanks her friends and family
and her late husband, Andy Cray, who died of cancer
in twenty fourteen, just days after their wedding. Quote, My
(08:08):
time with Andy reinforced for me a simple truth that
hope as an emotion, hope as a phenomenon, only makes
sense in the face of hardship, while at the moment
in America's history, hope sometimes feel hard to come by.
We must never forget that we are the beneficiaries of
seemingly impossible change, which I wish we could just end
(08:29):
it there. You know, that's such a great speech. We
get to make history, you get to move on and celebrate.
But of course with her celebration comes controversy, as she
started her journey with an orientation. Of course, conservative lawmakers
have made their biases known pretty quickly. Here's some information
from The Advocate. Just over two weeks after her historical
(08:51):
election as the first out transgender member of Congress, Delaware
Democratic Representative elect Sarah McBride is facing backline from the
members of the trans community over her response to Republicans
Speaker Mike Johnson's policy banning transgender people from using restrooms
aligned with their gender identity and house controlled facilities in Washington,
(09:13):
d C.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah, and a bit more from the New Yorker quote.
As the first transgender member of Congress and history, she
also experienced an orientation in naked aggression within days of
her arrival. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, introduced
a resolution that would restrict access to all single sex
facilities on Capitol Hill to those of the corresponding biological sex.
(09:38):
In other words, May sought a bathroom bill and made
clear that she absolutely intended it as a reaction to McBride.
I'm not going to stand for a man, you know,
someone with a penis in the woman's locker room. May said,
who had claimed to be pro transgender rights as recently
as last year, said of her new proposals, so added
(10:00):
an odd pseudo feminist twist, it's offensive that a man
in a skirt thinks that he's my equal. Mace found
support among Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson and Marjorie Taylor Green, who,
according to Politico, told colleagues that she would fight McBride
or the two of them ever to meet in a
woman's bathroom on the Hill.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
So professional, Yeah, it's so professional. I'm gonna fight you
because you exist. Really, wow, Anya.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Obviously that rhetoric that May said would be what we
talk about as terse that twist feminist twist.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
I'll love how they said that instead.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I mean, it's true, I guess, And disappointingly, not many
of McBride's co workers have stood up for her or
for trans people with this specific issue. However, Alexandria Accassio
Cortez AOC was one of the few who did who
called the bill disgusting of course, so there's a lot
more to be said. We want to come back and
talk about McBride's reaction to this, as well as a
(11:00):
lot of the trans community and the queer community, because
it unfolds a lot. So it's not our typical way
of doing things here at the Activist around the world,
but I think it is important that we look at
this conversation on a deeper level because it does impact
so many. This has a lot of implication. Unfortunately for McBride,
(11:23):
she's kind of become a talking head, I guess for
the transgender community as a leader.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
It would be lovely if we could.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Just say she made it there and we're excited, and
yes she has some hiccups, but not that many, and
we're cool with it, and everybody is advocating and supporting her.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
But that's not the case.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
So we're going to take a pause this week and
come back for the following week as a part two
about the reactions to McBride and this bathroom banning bill.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yes, yes, so keep an ear out for that. But
in the meantime, if you want to contact us you can.
You can email us a Stephania mom Stuff atiheartmedia dot com.
You can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast,
or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff When Never Told You.
We're also on YouTube. We have a tea public store,
(12:12):
and we have a book you can get wherever you
get your books. Thanks as always to our super producer Christina,
our executive producer Maya, and our contributor Joey.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Thank you and thanks to you for.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Listening Steffan Never Told You his production of iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can check out
the art radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephan
never told your production by her yo.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And today let me put this date here, December third,
twenty twenty four. We are talking about someone who's been
on a lot of people's minds and really has had
people talking though she doesn't even know a lot of
other people don't exist, like she doesn't know you.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
And yet we're talking about her.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
And yes, we're talking about newly elected Congresswoman Sarah McBride.
Of course, with all of the transphobic rhetoric to happening today,
she has been the topic of a lot of conversation recently.
She has been the main focus for some other members
of Congress who've made it their biggest job, which is
odd because there's a lot happening to make sure she
feels unwelcome, and about her bathroom music, because you know,
(01:00):
that's the most important thing happening here. But before we
dive into that, we want to take a look at
McBride's work and record as a feature of The Activist
around the World. Fyi, this has become a two parter,
so yes, we're going to kind of split about what
is happening, how she got here, and what is happening today,
and then we're going to talk about the reaction, because
(01:21):
there's a lot of comments happening specifically from the trans
community rightly so, so we do want to reflect on
that for those in the trans community, for those in
the queer community. Content warning. Obviously we're going to talk
about anti queer rhetoric and conversation, anti trans rhetoric and conversations.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So this is a bit much.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I understand, but we also do want to take moments
to celebrate a woman who has worked really hard to
get to where she is and felt that it's important
that she does it as her true self, which I
think is a bigger conversation we don't talk about enough
because instead the world is awful.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Anyway, here we go, let's go into it.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So who is Sarah mc McBride has stated she has
always had an interest in politics. Born to David and
Sally McBride in Wilmington, Delaware, McBride isn't a stranger to
policies and standards in general. Her father was a lawyer
while her mother was a counselor, and she actually the
founder of Cabot Callaway School of the Arts, which Sarah
(02:18):
did attend. She soon earned her bachelor's in twenty thirteen
from American University of DC, and is during this time
McBride talks about how her interest in politics really grew.
She had already worked as a staffer for different Delaware campaigns,
including for Governor Jack Markle Attorney General Bo Biden, and
(02:38):
she would soon after be elected as the student body
president at American University. And it was during this time
that McBride came out as trans, and even then she
was getting attention just for existing and coming out. She
made headlines in twenty twelve coming out, and within the
same year she was the first trans woman to work
(02:59):
in the world White House as an intern for the
Obama administration. But as we said, her coming out was
on public display. Here's a bit from her Wikipedia page.
McBride's coming out was featured on NPR, the Huffington Post,
and by Lady Guga's Born This Way Foundation. That's an
interesting added to the other two, but hey, that's interesting.
(03:21):
After coming out, McBride received a call from Delaware Attorney
General Bo Biden saying, quote, Sarah, I just wanted you
to know I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I love you.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
And you're still a part of the Biden family. Vice
President now President Joe Biden expressed similar sentiments, sharing that
he was proud of her and happy for her. So
definitely already has that link. Has been doing this work
for a minute. So one of those moments where I'm like, man,
you did a lot. What was I doing in twenty thirteen?
(03:53):
I was working for the government. I was working for
the government, just not on that level.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Important as well. You were working for feminist content. We
were doing things. We were doing.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
So as an intern, McBride was hard at work advocating
for LGBTQ rights and issues, and she was praised for
her work during her time there. She has acknowledged the
difficulties in coming out. Here's what she published in her
coming out article for the university paper. She writes, I
wrestled with the idea that my dream and my identity
seemed mutually exclusive. I had to pick my life was
(04:29):
passing me by, and I was done wasting it as
someone I wasn't. I'm sure that article was really impactful
as well as very hard to write. From what I
read that it was really moving and touching in the
words that she printed and doing so as a public
figure I couldn't imagine, and becoming her true self propelled
(04:50):
her forward in her activism as well. In twenty thirteen,
McBride was a part of the board of directors of
Equality Delaware, advocating for legal protection for the trends queer community,
and soon she helped pass legislation to help prevent discrimination
based on gender in twenty thirteen in the state of Delaware.
After her success with this legislation, she worked with the
(05:11):
Center of American Progress to advocate for the rights and
protection of the LGBTQ plus community as well. And of course,
during all of this time, she was still heavily involved
in the political world, including speaking at the twenty sixteen
Democratic National Convention during Hillary Clinton's campaign. In the speech,
she paid tribute to her late husband, Andrew Cray, who
(05:31):
was also an activist for the queer community, and though
her husband died a few days after their official wedding,
she has talked openly about the amount of impact Cray
has had on her life, as well as the support
she had from him.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
And with all that, in twenty nineteen, McBride decided to
step into the political arena herself and ran for Delaware Senate,
and in twenty twenty, McBride made history as the first
trans person to be a state senator in the United States.
Here's a bit from her website, Sarah McBride dot com quote.
As a state senator, McBride has passed legislation expanding access
(06:06):
to healthcare, requiring mental health and media literacy education in
public schools, promoting green technologies, preventing lead poisoning and youth,
and protecting workers and families. In just her first term,
McBride passed the landmark Healthy Delaware Families Act, providing paid
family and medical leave to workers throughout the first state,
(06:27):
and marking the largest expansion of Delaware's social safety net
in decades.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
So with all of that under her belt, she has
now been elected as the first transperson in the United
States House of Representatives. She announced her intention to run
in twenty twenty three to replace Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester.
She was actually endorsed by Rochester and in the twenty
twenty four election she won against John wayland IID. Here's
(07:03):
a bit about her win from NBC News. McBride's key
priorities for her congressional run were expanding access to affordable healthcare,
protecting reproductive rights, and increasing the minimum wage. She told
NBC News in September that her goal in Congress was
to work with her colleagues to break through the artisan
gridlock and actually pass legislation, which she became known for
(07:25):
during her time in Delaware's Senate. During her first term,
she helped pass universal paid family and medical leaf across
the state. So pretty big things. Of course, this is
just very minor details that she's done. There's a lot
of impact that she has had within the Delaware Senate,
which is why she was able to be elected. And
the article continues with a statement she made at her celebration. Quote,
(07:47):
tonight is a testament to Delawareans that here in our
state of neighbors, we judge candidates based on their ideas
and not their identities, McBride said at Delaware's Democratic election
Night celebration Tuesday night. She thanks her friends and family
and her late husband, Andy Cray, who died of cancer
in twenty fourteen, just days after their wedding. Quote, My
(08:08):
time with Andy reinforced for me a simple truth that
hope as an emotion, hope as a phenomenon, only makes
sense in the face of hardship, while at the moment
in America's history, hope sometimes feel hard to come by.
We must never forget that we are the beneficiaries of
seemingly impossible change, which I wish we could just end
(08:29):
it there. You know, that's such a great speech. We
get to make history, you get to move on and celebrate.
But of course with her celebration comes controversy, as she
started her journey with an orientation. Of course, conservative lawmakers
have made their biases known pretty quickly. Here's some information
from The Advocate. Just over two weeks after her historical
(08:51):
election as the first out transgender member of Congress, Delaware
Democratic Representative elect Sarah McBride is facing backline from the
members of the trans community over her response to Republicans
Speaker Mike Johnson's policy banning transgender people from using restrooms
aligned with their gender identity and house controlled facilities in Washington,
(09:13):
d C.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah, and a bit more from the New Yorker quote.
As the first transgender member of Congress and history, she
also experienced an orientation in naked aggression within days of
her arrival. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, introduced
a resolution that would restrict access to all single sex
facilities on Capitol Hill to those of the corresponding biological sex.
(09:38):
In other words, May sought a bathroom bill and made
clear that she absolutely intended it as a reaction to McBride.
I'm not going to stand for a man, you know,
someone with a penis in the woman's locker room. May said,
who had claimed to be pro transgender rights as recently
as last year, said of her new proposals, so added
(10:00):
an odd pseudo feminist twist, it's offensive that a man
in a skirt thinks that he's my equal. Mace found
support among Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson and Marjorie Taylor Green, who,
according to Politico, told colleagues that she would fight McBride
or the two of them ever to meet in a
woman's bathroom on the Hill.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
So professional, Yeah, it's so professional. I'm gonna fight you
because you exist. Really, wow, Anya.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Obviously that rhetoric that May said would be what we
talk about as terse that twist feminist twist.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
I'll love how they said that instead.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I mean, it's true, I guess, And disappointingly, not many
of McBride's co workers have stood up for her or
for trans people with this specific issue. However, Alexandria Accassio
Cortez AOC was one of the few who did who
called the bill disgusting of course, so there's a lot
more to be said. We want to come back and
talk about McBride's reaction to this, as well as a
(11:00):
lot of the trans community and the queer community, because
it unfolds a lot. So it's not our typical way
of doing things here at the Activist around the world,
but I think it is important that we look at
this conversation on a deeper level because it does impact
so many. This has a lot of implication. Unfortunately for McBride,
(11:23):
she's kind of become a talking head, I guess for
the transgender community as a leader.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
It would be lovely if we could.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Just say she made it there and we're excited, and
yes she has some hiccups, but not that many, and
we're cool with it, and everybody is advocating and supporting her.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
But that's not the case.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
So we're going to take a pause this week and
come back for the following week as a part two
about the reactions to McBride and this bathroom banning bill.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yes, yes, so keep an ear out for that. But
in the meantime, if you want to contact us you can.
You can email us a Stephania mom Stuff atiheartmedia dot com.
You can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast,
or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff When Never Told You.
We're also on YouTube. We have a tea public store,
(12:12):
and we have a book you can get wherever you
get your books. Thanks as always to our super producer Christina,
our executive producer Maya, and our contributor Joey.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Thank you and thanks to you for.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Listening Steffan Never Told You his production of iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can check out
the art radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
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