Sarah McBride Quotes

Living authentically isn’t an act of courage as much as an act of survival.

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 reality is that Hillary Clinton has been a steadfast supporter of LGBT equality. She has evolved on the issue of LGBT equality, and I think we are a better movement when we give people space to grow and learn. We can’t reduce it to a single issue like marriage equality.

Trans issues are also environmental issues. They’re also healthcare issues. They’re also national security issues.

I met my future husband Andy fighting for trans equality, and we fell in love. A couple of months after we started dating, Andy was diagnosed with cancer, and despite getting a clean bill of health several months later, eventually his cancer came back, and it was terminal.

I’m so proud to stand with the LGBT Caucus and speak out in support of Hillary Clinton, because we know she stands with us.

There’s no question that the best way to get people to care about an issue is to humanize it.

Whenever you tell a group of people that they can’t use bathrooms, or they can’t access spaces that other people use, that is dehumanizing. It is discriminatory, and it reinforces the stigma and the prejudices that the transgender community already faces.

Gorsuch showed his true colors to the LGBTQ community when, in one of his first dissenting opinions on the high court, he advocated limiting the reach of the landmark 2015 marriage equality ruling by denying certain parenting rights to same-sex couples.

Every single day matters when it comes to building a world where every person can live their life to the fullest.

I want to make sure that people understand that, behind this national conversation around transgender rights, there are real people who hurt when they’re mocked, who hurt when they’re discriminated against, and who just want to be treated with dignity and respect.

Efforts to bar transgender people from restrooms are nothing more than an attempt to codify discrimination before our country advances any further on transgender equality.

For me, having a gender identity that was different from my sex assigned at birth and that wasn’t seen by society felt like a constant feeling of homesickness – that unwavering ache in the pit of my stomach.

Instead of moving backward, we should expand opportunity and protections by repealing hateful laws and passing comprehensive LGBT nondiscrimination laws at the local, state, and federal level.

Access to public facilities like bathrooms is important for transgender people. But the fight for transgender rights does not begin and end at the bathroom door.

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.

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.

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

While I don’t think President Trump is going to round LGBTQ people up, I do think the concerns from the community about his vision are not only understandable but warranted.

A life in pursuit of position or power is not a life well-lived or in service to others.

Since taking office, Donald Trump and Mike Pence have governed the exact same way they campaigned, which is with bigotry and with bluster, and that includes toward the LGBTQ community.

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.

My gratitude is great to my family and friends for accepting me as the person who they now know me to be and for letting me show them the possibilities of a life well lived.

I would take issue with the assertion that President Trump has reached out to a diverse group for his cabinet secretaries. In fact, his cabinet is one of the least diverse in modern history.

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

Like all women, my path to womanhood is unique. No two paths are the same. Each of us travel with different privileges, challenges, and perspectives – some limiting, others illuminating.

Being an American is an action; it’s an ideal to strive for. It’s being part of this constantly perfecting union that, with each generation, expands our scope and human understanding of ‘We the people.’

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.

There is no one-size-fits-all narrative; everyone’s path winds in different ways.

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.

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

It was easier to forget, or be dismissive about, transgender issues when there weren’t transgender staffers or interns walking the halls of the White House.

Put simply, barring transgender people from restrooms consistent with their gender identity doesn’t help anyone, and continuing to allow transgender people to access those restrooms doesn’t hurt anyone.

For my entire life, I’ve wrestled with my gender identity.

Will we be a nation where there’s only one way to love, one way to look, one way to live? Or will we be a nation where everyone has the freedom to live openly and equally?

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?

My whiteness, economic privilege, able-bodied privilege, family support, and so many other factors shield me from some of the worst possible consequences – often fatal ones – that result from the toxic combination of misogyny, racism, and anti-trans sentiment.

Days after being sworn in as the nation’s top law enforcement officer, Trump’s attorney general, the virulently anti-LGBTQ Jeff Sessions, revoked lifesaving guidance promoting the protection and dignity of transgender students.

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.

Trans justice calls on us to combat the blend of prejudices that demean the lives and diminish the autonomy of another person.

There’s no question that the political is personal.

Too often, when transgender people die, family members or funeral homes will end up dressing a body of a transgender person in the garments of the gender that they were assigned at birth instead of their gender identity. They’re often dead-named and misgendered.

Time and time again, we have seen a growing alliance of allies who are willing to stand with trans people, who are educating themselves on trans identity and trans equality, and who understand that our lives are worth celebrating and that our cause matters.

Despite saying the letters ‘LGBTQ’ at the RNC, Donald Trump consistently endorsed anti-equality positions.

We certainly hope that Secretary DeVos will work on behalf of every student and ensure equal access to a safe and quality education for LGBTQ young people.