U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware admits she broke the cardinal rule of politics at a very young age: admitting you want to get into politics before running for office. But her ambition wasn’t rooted in a desire for power or titles, she said.
“[I had realized] this world was not built for someone like me to live openly and authentically, fully and freely,” McBride said. “And in that crisis of hope, I went searching for solutions.”
McBride, BA/School of Public Affairs ’13, is now the first openly transgender member of the U.S. Congress. She sat down with University President Jonathan Alger on Sep. 3 for the latest installment of The Civic Life initiative, which aims to promote civic engagement on campus through “events, activities and learning opportunities”, according to its webpage.
Although McBride said she didn’t know it at the time, deciding to come to AU was her first step in coming out.
“Because of my experiences at this university, I would not be either out as trans or a member of Congress,” McBride said.
As outgoing Student Government Body President in 2012, McBride sent an op-ed to The Eagle entitled The Real Me, where she came out as trans to the student body — and the world. Though McBride recalled she had no idea how the campus would react when the piece was published, and that she knew only one other trans person on campus, she said the resulting reception from the community “was like we had won a sports championship.”
“It was not only the first realization that maybe my fears were understandable but unfounded, but that maybe, maybe I didn't have to mourn the loss of a future,” McBride said.
After coming out, McBride interned at the White House under President Barack Obama before becoming a leading advocate for trans rights in Delaware. Her book “Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality,” which Alger described as a “tear-jerker,” was released in 2018. After being elected to the House of Representatives in 2024 with 57.9 percent of the vote, McBride broke her own record as the highest-ranked trans official in the country.
As a member of Congress, McBride said she’s been working on trans issues — from introducing amendments for the National Defense Authorization Act eliminating President Donald Trump’s ban on trans troops to speaking out on attacks against the trans community. However, McBride said if she went into Congress solely to be an advocate for trans people, it would lean into the narrative she said Republicans have created.
“A handful of my colleagues have come after me in an effort to draw me into a fight that would result in me being in that caricature,” McBride said. “And the sad reality is that sometimes being strong and being disciplined and being strategic means not giving people the response that they want.”
McBride said she has been the subject of numerous attacks in her U.S. House tenure, including being barred from the women’s bathroom in the United States Capitol and being repeatedly misgendered by Republican colleagues. When Alger asked McBride for advice on practicing the “rules of engagement” in civil discourse, she said the only way out of our current moment is changing public opinion — and the only way that happens is by having a conversation.
“We've tried frankly yelling at people. We've tried telling people they're bigots. We've tried telling people that what they're saying shouldn't be ever said,” McBride said. “That didn't work, and so we've got to try something different.”
Rather, McBride stressed the importance of creating an incentive for people to grow and change, rather than outright rebuking their ideas as wrong.
“If people think that they will be permanently guilty for having been wrong,” McBride said, “not only does that leave them no incentive or space to change, it actually creates an incentive for them to not only maintain their position, but to maintain their position as the mainstream political position.”
Alger hailed the conversation about working across differences during polarized times as important and timely, and called McBride’s remarks “powerful.”
“You've made us so proud at American University,” he told McBride.
This article was edited by Payton Anderson, Neil Lazurus, Abigail Hatting and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting and Ariana Kavoossi.
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