“I think, for me, with regard to my parents, my biggest fear was not that they would reject me but that I would disappoint them. That by coming out, I would simultaneously dash my own dreams and their dreams for me, and I was afraid of letting them down.”

American politician, author, and LGBTQ rights activist, born 1990

Sarah McBride is an American politician, author, and LGBTQ rights activist. Born in 1990, she serves in the U.S. House as Delaware’s at-large representative and is a Democrat. She is the first openly transgender member of the United States Congress and the highest-ranking openly transgender elected official in the country. Before entering Congress, McBride served in the Delaware Senate from 2021 to 2025, representing the 1st district. From 2016 to 2021, she was the national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign. Her public work has centered on transgender rights and broader LGBTQ equality, and her 2024 congressional campaign is the subject of the 2025 documentary State of Firsts.