November 19, 2024 • 10 mins
Trump supporter and Trans Activist Sara Higdon joins the show to discuss what a Donald Trump presidency means for the trans community and how she feels about the left's attacks on Trump that have labeled him as 'transphobic'.
Find out more at Sara's website: https://www.sarahigdon.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqYG2g8GWU-kJuNUliEvWKBGLyPitv_z77U36M4yGANy1LaYHe8
Find out more at Sara's website: https://www.sarahigdon.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqYG2g8GWU-kJuNUliEvWKBGLyPitv_z77U36M4yGANy1LaYHe8
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
With that being a feminist makes me an extremist. I'm
totally here for it.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Is this effort in response to Congress commandment bribes coming
to Congress.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Yes, and absolutely and then some.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm not going to stand for a man.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
You know, if someone with the penis is in the
women's locker room, that's not okay. And I'm a victim
of abuse myself.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm a rape survivor.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I have PTSD from the abuse I've suffered at the
hands of a man, and I know how vulnerable women
and girls are in private spaces. So I'm absolutely, one
hundred percent going to stand in the way if any
man who wants to be in a women's restroom, in
our locker rooms and our changing rooms, I will be
there fighting you every.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Step of the way.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
That's Representative Nancy Mayze, Republican South Carolina, as you rejoin
us here on Ryan Schuling Live, introducing a bill for
the House floor to make sure that the women's restrooms
in the Capitol will be reserved for biological women only. Now,
this is in response you said absolutely and then some too.
Representative Sarah McBride being sworn in Democrat Delaware, the first
(01:02):
transgender member of Congress, Sarah McBride is a biological male
that has transitioned to female, and to Sarah's credit, those
posts that Sarah has put on X have been ones
of asking for inclusion, asking for acceptance, asking for tolerance
and grace. And I have no problem with any one
of those things. But there has to be a conversation.
(01:24):
We've had it before, and we've had it with our
next guest about where the line is drawn between transgender
rights and having the right to exist, having the right
to have private spaces, et cetera, and not having those
rights over infringe on those of biological women who may
not feel safe in such spaces with biological men, especially
those who are intact. Like the stories that we heard
(01:47):
from Riley Gaines about Leah aka William Thomas in the
swim Meets, in which Leah Thomas was occupying the women's
changing room the women's locker room there recently featured in
The Daily Mail with the following headline, trans athlete an
ex vet admits she would have had an advantage if
she competed against biological women, even after five years of
(02:09):
h RT. My friend from my Central Michigan days was
a biological male then now identifies as female and as
part of the fight that led to Donald Trump winning
on November fifth, just two weeks ago. Sarah Higden, who
you can follow on x at Sarah no H S
A R A and then letter H I G D
O N underscore. Don't forget the underscore, Sarah, welcome back.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, thanks again for having me. Man, it's been a
couple crazy days for me.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
I can only imagine, and that my demand was just
one of several with you. I mean, you're in the
Daily Mail, et cetera, but I just want to get,
you know, for those that may have not heard from
you before your reset on Nancy Mayce's take there and
what you feel the solution is.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, it's interesting because one one correction to that, I
did read Nancy Mayes's stuff, and the rules actually only
apply to employees at the Capitol, not people that are
visiting the Capitol. And so obviously it is in response
to Sarah McBride. Here's the issue I have. I have
(03:15):
no issues with what Nancy Mace is doing. I respect
her her views as a survivor of sexual.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Assault in my for a long time.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
We've talked about this before is. I truly believe that
all publicly funded buildings, so capital buildings in general, should
all have that third space to where trans people.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Or people that don't feel comfortable changing in front of
other people or going to the bathroom in front of
other people can use. It's not you know, if you
have a child who is of the opposite sex and
you don't want to take them into the changing room
of you know, they're kind of at that weird.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Stage I had. I think that there's always room to
have that third space, and regardless of where it is now,
my line is always in private property rights. So publicly
funded spaces should always have that third space, and we
can use them, but a private space, so if I'm
a business owner, I can make the rules within that establishment,
(04:15):
and then everybody else can choose whether or not they
want to go there or not go there based on
their own ideals.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
You can find out more at her website Sarah Higdon
dot com And Sarah, youre going to be at the inauguration?
Just a question?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I am not.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I'm not planning on it.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
No, okay. I was going to say, if you were there,
we could arrange to meet up, but I wanted to
kind of go over your advice for Representative Sarah McBride,
because I have compassion for Sarah and this is uncharted waters.
I mean for the Congress to have to deal with
this and for Sarah to have to fit in. And
Speaker Johnson was asked about this, I want to get
to this sound clip and then have you react.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Is fresh elects Sarah McBride, young man or a woman.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Not going to get into this. We welcome all new
members with open arms who are duly elected representatives of
the people. I believe it's a it's a command that
we treat all persons with dignity and respect, and we
will and I'm not going to engage and silly debates
about this. There's a concern about the uses of restroom
(05:20):
facilities and locker rooms and all that. This is an
issue that Congress has never had to address before. And
we're going to do that in deliberate fashion with member
consensus on it, and we will accommodate the needs of
every single person. That's all I'm going to say about.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
That temperate response from Speaker Johnson. There was a follow
up question.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
This was his response, do you plan on bringing naxy basis.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Transgender bill and putting that into the rules package.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
We're I'm not going to address the plans on any
of that. I just told you what I'm going to
say about the issue. I'm not going to engage in this.
We don't look down upon anyone. We treat everybody with dignity, respect.
That's a principle that I pursued my whole life. And
we will take care of this issue of first impression
for Congress as we will any other thing. Will provide
appropriate accommodation for every member of Congress.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
So along those lines, it sounds like Speaker Johnson Sarah
is in line with what you're saying. Do they need
to take up the bill proposed by Nancy Maze or
was that just a gesture by Mace to draw attention
to the issue. I just have it address the way
that you said, just provide a third space for Representative McBride.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, I actually think that that's a that's a great
response from Speaker Johnson. I think that that is what
the response that most people should be.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I think that that kind of sets the stage for
Sera McBride to come in and say, well, let's have
a third space. I'm if he says that he's going
to make accommodations for all members, let's make sure that
they're a third space for trans people that they can
use while they're in the Capitol. I think that there
is no issues with that, and it kind of starts
(06:50):
this conversation on a much larger level. So I have
no issues with what either one of them are doing.
I do think a little bit of it is political
theater and how it's been done, but I think it's
being handled actually quite well from all sides. I haven't
heard anything else from Sarah McBride, but I truly think
that if she were to address and go and speak
(07:13):
with Speaker Johnson, then they can come to some resolution
to where she's not uncomfortable in the Capitol. It's like
everybody's taxpayers dollars goes to paying for that capital building,
so everybody that enters that Capitol building should feel comfortable,
and I think the third space as.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
A way to do that transactivist and not the way
that traditionally you might envision it. Sarah Higden joining us
a very unique figure in this entire conversation, a content
creator who you can follow on x at. Sarah Higden underscore.
That's sa hig d o N don't forgive that underscore
on x so Sarah, I guess I just want to
use this opportunity to give you this platform to talk
(07:50):
to our listeners who maybe haven't interacted with the trans
person before, and just how you handle those situations, how
you put people at ease, and how you're able to
just socialize on a regular basis, whether it's at a
GLP event or anything else.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, I think the biggest thing that I do is
I read the room for the most part, Right, I
think I've transitioned. I've been on hormones that you said
for five and a half years, and I think it's
just being a normal person understanding you know, the way
that other people feel about it, and then people respect
(08:26):
you when you respect them, and so there's doesn't have
to be this back and forth us versus them mentality.
It is interesting, like like I said, I will use
whatever restroom or locker room you tell me to use.
If I don't want to do it, I just won't,
you know, go to that business right tac that. I
(08:47):
just don't think that there needs to be this much animosity.
It's interesting. I went to a Trump rally, the one
that's here in Duluth by TP Action. I was covering
it for the post Millennial and I honestly had never
been recognized.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
More than I did at that rally, and more.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
People coming up to me and wanting to take pictures
and give me hugs.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
And so I say this to even to show to.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
The transactives that they don't hate you. They just want
you to respect them. And so if you can listen
to each other, then people are going to respect you
no matter what. And going into the bathroom issue is
really funny because knowing my audience, knowing where I was,
I wasn't going to use the women's restroom, so I
was waiting for the unisex restroom to open up at
(09:36):
one point and one of the workers goes, ma'am, there's
a women's restroom right here, and I go, I know,
thank you, and she just looked at me funny and
then walked away. But it's so interesting because most people
wouldn't even bat and I if you're respectful and you
just present yourself and you try to blend into society
the other way, such.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
A great opportunity and such a great voice on this issue.
Sarah Higden again a transidentifying female who went to school
at Central Michigan University as an undergrad when I was
a graduate student there. So glad to continue that friendship
over all these years later. And Sarah, just wonderful work
that you do. Appreciate your time here today and I
look forward to our next conversation as always.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, absolutely, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
All right, Sarah Higdon joining us right there. Your response
five seven seven thirty nine. Your thoughts on Representative Nancy
Mace and what she proposed, Speaker Johnson's reply to it,
and how do we navigate this issue with an incoming
representative who is transgender. Sarah McBride, Democrat, Delaware who will
be sworn in in January. Back to wrap up with
your text five seven seven thirty nine on Ryan Schuling
(10:41):
Live after this
With that being a feminist makes me an extremist. I'm
totally here for it.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Is this effort in response to Congress commandment bribes coming
to Congress.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Yes, and absolutely and then some.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm not going to stand for a man.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
You know, if someone with the penis is in the
women's locker room, that's not okay. And I'm a victim
of abuse myself.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm a rape survivor.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I have PTSD from the abuse I've suffered at the
hands of a man, and I know how vulnerable women
and girls are in private spaces. So I'm absolutely, one
hundred percent going to stand in the way if any
man who wants to be in a women's restroom, in
our locker rooms and our changing rooms, I will be
there fighting you every.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Step of the way.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
That's Representative Nancy Mayze, Republican South Carolina, as you rejoin
us here on Ryan Schuling Live, introducing a bill for
the House floor to make sure that the women's restrooms
in the Capitol will be reserved for biological women only. Now,
this is in response you said absolutely and then some too.
Representative Sarah McBride being sworn in Democrat Delaware, the first
(01:02):
transgender member of Congress, Sarah McBride is a biological male
that has transitioned to female, and to Sarah's credit, those
posts that Sarah has put on X have been ones
of asking for inclusion, asking for acceptance, asking for tolerance
and grace. And I have no problem with any one
of those things. But there has to be a conversation.
(01:24):
We've had it before, and we've had it with our
next guest about where the line is drawn between transgender
rights and having the right to exist, having the right
to have private spaces, et cetera, and not having those
rights over infringe on those of biological women who may
not feel safe in such spaces with biological men, especially
those who are intact. Like the stories that we heard
(01:47):
from Riley Gaines about Leah aka William Thomas in the
swim Meets, in which Leah Thomas was occupying the women's
changing room the women's locker room there recently featured in
The Daily Mail with the following headline, trans athlete an
ex vet admits she would have had an advantage if
she competed against biological women, even after five years of
(02:09):
h RT. My friend from my Central Michigan days was
a biological male then now identifies as female and as
part of the fight that led to Donald Trump winning
on November fifth, just two weeks ago. Sarah Higden, who
you can follow on x at Sarah no H S
A R A and then letter H I G D
O N underscore. Don't forget the underscore, Sarah, welcome back.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, thanks again for having me. Man, it's been a
couple crazy days for me.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
I can only imagine, and that my demand was just
one of several with you. I mean, you're in the
Daily Mail, et cetera, but I just want to get,
you know, for those that may have not heard from
you before your reset on Nancy Mayce's take there and
what you feel the solution is.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, it's interesting because one one correction to that, I
did read Nancy Mayes's stuff, and the rules actually only
apply to employees at the Capitol, not people that are
visiting the Capitol. And so obviously it is in response
to Sarah McBride. Here's the issue I have. I have
(03:15):
no issues with what Nancy Mace is doing. I respect
her her views as a survivor of sexual.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Assault in my for a long time.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
We've talked about this before is. I truly believe that
all publicly funded buildings, so capital buildings in general, should
all have that third space to where trans people.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Or people that don't feel comfortable changing in front of
other people or going to the bathroom in front of
other people can use. It's not you know, if you
have a child who is of the opposite sex and
you don't want to take them into the changing room
of you know, they're kind of at that weird.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Stage I had. I think that there's always room to
have that third space, and regardless of where it is now,
my line is always in private property rights. So publicly
funded spaces should always have that third space, and we
can use them, but a private space, so if I'm
a business owner, I can make the rules within that establishment,
(04:15):
and then everybody else can choose whether or not they
want to go there or not go there based on
their own ideals.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
You can find out more at her website Sarah Higdon
dot com And Sarah, youre going to be at the inauguration?
Just a question?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I am not.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I'm not planning on it.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
No, okay. I was going to say, if you were there,
we could arrange to meet up, but I wanted to
kind of go over your advice for Representative Sarah McBride,
because I have compassion for Sarah and this is uncharted waters.
I mean for the Congress to have to deal with
this and for Sarah to have to fit in. And
Speaker Johnson was asked about this, I want to get
to this sound clip and then have you react.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Is fresh elects Sarah McBride, young man or a woman.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Not going to get into this. We welcome all new
members with open arms who are duly elected representatives of
the people. I believe it's a it's a command that
we treat all persons with dignity and respect, and we
will and I'm not going to engage and silly debates
about this. There's a concern about the uses of restroom
(05:20):
facilities and locker rooms and all that. This is an
issue that Congress has never had to address before. And
we're going to do that in deliberate fashion with member
consensus on it, and we will accommodate the needs of
every single person. That's all I'm going to say about.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
That temperate response from Speaker Johnson. There was a follow
up question.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
This was his response, do you plan on bringing naxy basis.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Transgender bill and putting that into the rules package.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
We're I'm not going to address the plans on any
of that. I just told you what I'm going to
say about the issue. I'm not going to engage in this.
We don't look down upon anyone. We treat everybody with dignity, respect.
That's a principle that I pursued my whole life. And
we will take care of this issue of first impression
for Congress as we will any other thing. Will provide
appropriate accommodation for every member of Congress.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
So along those lines, it sounds like Speaker Johnson Sarah
is in line with what you're saying. Do they need
to take up the bill proposed by Nancy Maze or
was that just a gesture by Mace to draw attention
to the issue. I just have it address the way
that you said, just provide a third space for Representative McBride.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, I actually think that that's a that's a great
response from Speaker Johnson. I think that that is what
the response that most people should be.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I think that that kind of sets the stage for
Sera McBride to come in and say, well, let's have
a third space. I'm if he says that he's going
to make accommodations for all members, let's make sure that
they're a third space for trans people that they can
use while they're in the Capitol. I think that there
is no issues with that, and it kind of starts
(06:50):
this conversation on a much larger level. So I have
no issues with what either one of them are doing.
I do think a little bit of it is political
theater and how it's been done, but I think it's
being handled actually quite well from all sides. I haven't
heard anything else from Sarah McBride, but I truly think
that if she were to address and go and speak
(07:13):
with Speaker Johnson, then they can come to some resolution
to where she's not uncomfortable in the Capitol. It's like
everybody's taxpayers dollars goes to paying for that capital building,
so everybody that enters that Capitol building should feel comfortable,
and I think the third space as.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
A way to do that transactivist and not the way
that traditionally you might envision it. Sarah Higden joining us
a very unique figure in this entire conversation, a content
creator who you can follow on x at. Sarah Higden underscore.
That's sa hig d o N don't forgive that underscore
on x so Sarah, I guess I just want to
use this opportunity to give you this platform to talk
(07:50):
to our listeners who maybe haven't interacted with the trans
person before, and just how you handle those situations, how
you put people at ease, and how you're able to
just socialize on a regular basis, whether it's at a
GLP event or anything else.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, I think the biggest thing that I do is
I read the room for the most part, Right, I
think I've transitioned. I've been on hormones that you said
for five and a half years, and I think it's
just being a normal person understanding you know, the way
that other people feel about it, and then people respect
(08:26):
you when you respect them, and so there's doesn't have
to be this back and forth us versus them mentality.
It is interesting, like like I said, I will use
whatever restroom or locker room you tell me to use.
If I don't want to do it, I just won't,
you know, go to that business right tac that. I
(08:47):
just don't think that there needs to be this much animosity.
It's interesting. I went to a Trump rally, the one
that's here in Duluth by TP Action. I was covering
it for the post Millennial and I honestly had never
been recognized.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
More than I did at that rally, and more.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
People coming up to me and wanting to take pictures
and give me hugs.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
And so I say this to even to show to.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
The transactives that they don't hate you. They just want
you to respect them. And so if you can listen
to each other, then people are going to respect you
no matter what. And going into the bathroom issue is
really funny because knowing my audience, knowing where I was,
I wasn't going to use the women's restroom, so I
was waiting for the unisex restroom to open up at
(09:36):
one point and one of the workers goes, ma'am, there's
a women's restroom right here, and I go, I know,
thank you, and she just looked at me funny and
then walked away. But it's so interesting because most people
wouldn't even bat and I if you're respectful and you
just present yourself and you try to blend into society
the other way, such.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
A great opportunity and such a great voice on this issue.
Sarah Higden again a transidentifying female who went to school
at Central Michigan University as an undergrad when I was
a graduate student there. So glad to continue that friendship
over all these years later. And Sarah, just wonderful work
that you do. Appreciate your time here today and I
look forward to our next conversation as always.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, absolutely, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
All right, Sarah Higdon joining us right there. Your response
five seven seven thirty nine. Your thoughts on Representative Nancy
Mace and what she proposed, Speaker Johnson's reply to it,
and how do we navigate this issue with an incoming
representative who is transgender. Sarah McBride, Democrat, Delaware who will
be sworn in in January. Back to wrap up with
your text five seven seven thirty nine on Ryan Schuling
(10:41):
Live after this
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