Sarah McBride
In 2024 she became the first openly transgender person elected to the US Congress.
Sarah McBride grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, in a politically active family. In 2012, as student body president of American University in Washington, she came out as transgender in an article in the student newspaper. The same year she became the first openly trans woman to work in the White House, as an intern.
She campaigned successfully for a law in Delaware banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity, and later worked as national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign. In 2016 she became the first openly transgender person to speak at a national party convention in the United States.
Her husband, Andrew Cray, a trans man and fellow activist, died of cancer in 2014, four days after their wedding. She wrote about this in her memoir “Tomorrow Will Be Different” (2018).
In 2020 she was elected to the Delaware State Senate, the first openly trans state senator in the country. In 2024 she was elected to the US House of Representatives for Delaware, becoming the first openly trans member of Congress. When she took office, the Republican majority banned her from using the women’s restrooms in the Capitol; she said she would follow the rules and concentrate on her work.