Sarah McBride

“I grew up in an upper-income household, in an accepting environment, and with incredible educational opportunities.”

“While Donald Trump claimed during the campaign that he would be a 'friend' to the LGBTQ community, we knew it was likely one more 'alternative fact' spouted by the President and his team.”

“The first thing we need allies to do is listen. Come to us with a willingness to grow and evolve. You're going to make mistakes, and that's fine, but be willing to listen and grow from those mistakes. I think that's the most important trait an ally can have.”

“The first time I heard the word 'transgender' had been in a sitcom episode that mocked the potential for cisgender people to find people like me attractive. Every time someone expressed any interest in the gorgeous trans guest character - her identity still a secret to most of the main characters in the show - the laugh track would cue.”

“When I came out, I wondered whether I had a future not just professionally but romantically. Would I be able to find someone who loved me?”

“Transgender people, especially transgender women of color, face pervasive discrimination throughout life, including by those sworn to protect us.”

“We can celebrate the speed at which LGBT equality has progressed, but we also have to acknowledge that it wasn't fast enough, because too many people didn't get to experience it. We can never be too impatient.”

“We have to open hearts and change minds while at the same time pushing for laws that protect LGBTQ people from discrimination.”

“My name is Sarah McBride, and I am a proud transgender American.”

“When you know someone's story, it becomes much harder to hate them.”

“For some, the fear of coming out is so great, they can continue to live an inauthentic life. But at a certain point, the pain becomes too much to bear. For me, having one more day pass by where I wasn't living my true self seemed like such a wasted opportunity, such a wasted life.”

“I've always been Sarah. My gender identity has always existed. I've always been a woman. Gay people aren't straight before they come out as gay, and transgender people are who they are before they come out and transition.”

“I think it's really difficult for folks that aren't transgender to really wrap their mind around the feeling of having a gender identity that differs from their sex assigned at birth. But for me, it felt like a constant feeling of homesickness.”

“During my sophomore year at American University, I was elected president of the student body. At the same time, I was struggling with my identity and whether or not to come out as transgender.”

“This is how systems of oppression work: The violence, discrimination, and stigma I face as a woman compounds the violence, discrimination, and stigma I face as a trans person, and vice versa.”

“LGBTQ people are still targeted by hate that lives in both laws and in hearts.”

“For my entire life, I've wrestled with my gender identity.”

“Andy and I decided to get married in August of 2014, and just 4 days after we married, he passed away. For me, I carry my relationship with Andy with me in my LGBT advocacy work.”

“The Trump-Pence administration has truly become one of the most explicitly anti-LGBTQ administrations in history.”

“Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and Jeff Sessions are using their powers and offices to make life as difficult as possible for everyone from the transgender worker to the gay widower to the queer undocumented immigrant. These efforts are not about bathrooms or religious freedom; they're about driving LGBTQ people out of public life.”