Speaking at the largest Pride celebration in White House history this month, President Joe Biden looked out over the crowd and marveled at the people in front of him. He acknowledged “leaders in our administration,” like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and HHS Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, and took the time to greet his ambassador to Switzerland, Scott Miller, among other luminaries. LGBTQ.
Along the way, Biden dropped another name, that of a relatively obscure Delaware state senator.
“I’m proud,” Biden said, “that at home in Delaware [we have] the first transgender state legislator in American history, Sarah McBride.
Five days later, while signing an executive order “enhancing protections for LGBTQI+ people,” Biden mentioned McBride again. “Sarah,” he said, “you’re – wonderful to see you, kid.”
The mentions were odes to someone who, according to people in Biden’s orbit and others active in the advocacy space, directly shaped Biden’s personal and political evolution on transgender issues.
McBride’s close ties to the Biden family date back more than 15 years. Last week, the nation’s first transgender state senator announced she was running for Delaware’s open house seat, in a bid that could make her the first openly transgender member of the US Congress.
As Republican-led states pass a growing number of laws restricting access to medical care for minors and the country sees an increase in anti-LGBTQ hatred and extremism, Biden leaned on McBride , the caller to discuss the current moment in American politics. Over time, she helped transform one of the most devout Catholic presidents in US history into an unlikely champion of LGBTQ causes.
“We spoke about the fear people have across the country, and I shared with him how much it means to people when they see him speaking up and taking action to protect LGBTQ rights and LGBTQ people,” McBride said. in an interview with POLITICO.
McBride’s relationship with the Biden family began in 2006. She was a high school student when she worked for Beau Biden’s attorney general’s campaign, forming a close bond with eldest son Biden. McBride worked for Beau Biden again in 2010 as a member of his small re-election campaign team. She was his “physical person” for most of that summer, driving him around the state for campaign events.
In 2012, while serving as student body president at American University, McBride came out as transgender. She shared her exit note on Facebook and in the student newspaper, unsure what it would mean for her future in politics.
“That was before what Time Magazine called the ‘transgender tipping point,'” McBride said. “I just didn’t know how Delaware, Delaware politics would react to a transgender person.”
That night, Beau Biden called her. He told her she was still “part of the Biden family.”
McBride then interned at the White House Office of Public Engagement later that year, working with the Office of Violence Prevention and becoming the first openly transgender person to work in the White House. She saw then-Vice President Biden for the first time since his exit next January, at a Naval Observatory celebration.
Biden approached McBride and asked how she was doing.
“Are you happy?” He asked.
He then told her that Beau was so proud of her and gave her a hug.
For McBride, those moments of acceptance, especially from a politician she looked up to as a young child interested in a political career, were vital. When she was 10, she first met Biden at a local pizzeria. Now the vice president stood before her, affirming his support at a time when politicians did not welcome transgender people.
These moments were also not trivial for Biden, who in turn was greatly affected by McBride’s coming out. But she said the Biden administration’s journey and commitment today to LGBTQ equality cannot be explained without Beau Biden.
“I really think part of that is that this president feels closer to his son and his son’s legacy,” McBride said.
In 2013, Beau Biden joined Democratic Delaware Gov. Jack Markell in supporting marriage equality legislation. But what was seen as a bigger issue among LGBTQ advocates at the time was his support for trans people. He urged state lawmakers to pass legislation to establish protections based on gender identity, said Lisa Goodman, founding president of Equality Delaware.
Beau Biden made videos for his organization supporting transgender rights, as arguments and attacks began to emerge over transgender people and toilets.
“I can’t tell you the people I’ve spoken to over the years who have sat down with me and said – including, frankly, members of my own extended family – things like, ‘I don’t never understood homosexuals. I was never really on board until my son, my daughter, my niece, my nephew, my brother told me,’” Goodman said. “That’s the most powerful thing you can do is show up as either LGBTQ or an ally.”
“And I think Sarah had a huge effect on both of them.”
The 80-year-old president, who as a senator voted for the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 which defined marriage as between one man and one woman, has been ahead of the political curve on LGBTQ issues during the last decade. In 2012, the same year McBride came out, Biden revealed his support for same-sex marriage to his then-boss, President Barack Obama. Last year, he signed the Respect for Marriage Act, cementing his role as a central figure in the movement.
But his messaging on transgender issues has also been forward-thinking, McBride said, noting that Biden, also in 2012, called transgender discrimination “the civil rights issue of our time.” In the foreword to McBride’s 2018 book, “Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality,” Biden wrote, “It’s about unleashing the soul of trans America from the constraints of bigotry, hate and fear, and to open people’s minds, our hearts and minds to what unites us all.
Republicans seized on transgender issues as a core motivation. In 2023 alone, nearly 500 pieces of legislation targeting LGBTQ rights have been introduced in state legislatures. Former President Donald Trump has pledged to punish doctors who provide gender-affirming care if they are re-elected and to reinstate his ban on transgender people in the US military that Biden reversed.
A White House official pointed to the many steps Biden has taken as president, including his administration’s efforts to strengthen protections for transgender youth in education and health care through rulemaking . White House and federal agency officials also met with families impacted by states’ anti-LGBTQ laws, transgender youth visited the White House to share their stories, and Biden spoke directly to transgender youth in his three speeches. before a joint session. of Congress.
Earlier this month, responding to a question about anti-LGBTQ and anti-transgender laws popping up across the country, Biden urged Congress to pass the Equality Act and condemned the “prejudicial” attacks and “unjustified” against LGBTQ Americans.
“Our fight is far, far from over because we have hysterical and, I would say, prejudiced people who are engaged in everything you see happening in the country,” Biden said. “It’s a call to fear, and it’s a call that is totally, completely unwarranted and ugly.”