Making History in the LGBT+ Community
On November 3rd, 2020, Delaware elected the first openly transgender person to be elected as a state senator in United States history. In January of 2021, she will be sworn in and become the highest-ranking transgender elected official in the nation.
Ms. Sarah McBride is a Democrat who has previously interned under the Obama administration and later lobbied in the Delaware General Assembly on a transgender rights bill which was signed in 2013. She also was the first transgender person to speak at the Democratic National Convention in 2016.
As a Democrat, her campaign is mainly focused on expanding access to affordable health care and paid leave for family or medical reasons. She also wants to increase Delaware’s minimum wage, reform the criminal justice system, and fight for universal pre-K.
As for the state senator for district one, she had accumulated 73.3% of the vote. She won against Republican senator Steve Washington. She has been heavily influenced by American politics and is determined to take her new position as state senator very seriously, as she focuses on serving her district's needs.
McBride is also a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, which is the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization. Her win is a small victory for the LGBTQ+ community which will inspire so many things for the future.
Harborfields Gender Sexuality Alliance teacher advisor, Mrs. Koenig believes the impact is more important towards young people. She states that, “Young queer people can feel as though they are eligible for running for government positions. They also learn a very important lesson that gender identity or sexuality has nothing to do with the position you can hold in any government position and it’s fantastic to see.”
She also adds that by seeing a transgender person win the senate race it can provide, “...more visibility to others about people in the LGBTQ+ community, as in holding governmental positions. This can strengthen the resolve to keep fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in all aspects of life. As every victory we get enables us to have a little bit more strength and fight for equality over time.”
As more young people start to take over in government, this dream may become a reality quicker then you would think. In a democracy all the people’s voices should be heard and that is an important concept for the present and future generations of politicians and advocates, so that they can continue to fight for equal rights for every person in America.
