Sarah McBride, a Delaware native and first transgender person to speak at a major party convention, says she wants to bring humanity to the forefront of her speech Thursday.
McBride was born and raised in Wilmington and began transitioning to a woman while she was a student at American University in Washington, D.C.
As a board member of Equality Delaware, McBride was the public face of the organization’s fight to include gender identity under the state’s anti-discrimination clause in 2013.
Now, speaking on the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, she says she wants to impart a positive, inclusive message to those listening.
“My hope is that this affirms for someone who’s watching who’s transgender, who’s struggling with whether this country has a place for them, too, that at the very least, this can provide them with some degree of hope and some degree of comfort and that they know that in Hillary Clinton’s America they have a place,” McBride said.
Notwithstanding Donald Trump’s declaration of support for the LGBT community, his party decries same-sex marriage and certain public accommodations for transgender people.
“There is humanity behind the issue that we’re talking about. Transgender people are real people with the same hopes and the same dreams as all Americans," McBride said.
She says more work needs to be done legislatively to ensure equal protections for everyone and Hillary Clinton is someone who can bring that change.
“I think at this convention, this Democratic convention and Hillary Clinton’s campaign in general has been a message of inclusion, a message of welcoming people regardless of who they are or who they love and I think at the end of the day, that message of hope and positivity will win out.”
McBride will speak ahead of Chelsea and Hillary Clinton Thursday.
