First trans member of Congress has arrived—and not a moment too soon
There’s never been a time in U.S. history when we’ve needed trans representation in government more than now. Our rights are being attacked and stripped at every level. Without someone who truly understands the trans experience in the room at a federal level, there’s little hope for an effective end to the bleeding.
While the war is far from over, after 235 years we finally have an out trans member of Congress set to be sworn in this January. This could be a major step toward getting trans rights codified in the United States.
Sarah McBride has taken that historic step, with the race for Delaware’s only seat in the House of Representatives being called for her. McBride defeated Republican John Whalen III, NBC News reported, taking 57.6% of the vote with 63% of the states’ total votes in by 11:31 p.m. EST.
The win makes McBride the first out transgender person to serve in Congress, joining a shockingly small LGBTQ+ contingent in the House and Senate. She beat her Republican opponent, John Whalen III, who ran on an anti-immigration, anti-choice platform.
At only 34, McBride has already made an impressive name for herself, with her seat in Congress adding yet another “first” to the list. After working for the Human Rights Campaign and interning in the Obama-Biden White House, she became the first trans person to speak at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. The 2020 elections in her home state of Delaware made her the first trans person elected to a state senate, and in 2022, she also became the first trans incumbent to win re-election in a state senate.
Trans representation in Congress matters.
Every day, trans people have to fight to have our basic human rights acknowledged. Changing hearts and minds is no simple task, but it starts with making people understand that we exist. Trans representation in television and movies has helped people to understand us enough that we are at a point where McBride’s election to the House is something that can even happen. That speaks to just how much acceptance of the trans community has grown.
But while the media that got us here can be dismissed as “woke,” McBride’s role as the highest-ranking trans politician in the U.S. and a first at this level will be harder to ignore. Fictional representations can help people in marginalized communities understand themselves and push people outside those communities to understand the humans behind the stories. Because it is a step further and in the real world, McBride’s representation of the trans community in Congress can do all of that for the next generation of trans people.
We’ve already seen the impact of this across the country at the state level. In Virginia, Delegate Danica Roem (D) worked in the state House of Delegates (before being elected to the state Senate) to pass a bill to end anti-trans discrimination in health insurance. In 2023, state Rep. Leigh Finke (D), the first out trans person in the Minnesota Legislature, sponsored the bill that Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed to make Minnesota a trans refuge state. Having trans politicians in the conversation has helped move the needle on trans rights.
The visibility of McBride’s seat in the House is important not just for trans people and their loved ones but for challenging the anti-trans lobby and those who manage to sit on the fence. Many of the politicians pushing bills that will strip rights away from trans people have likely never actually knowingly met a trans person or at least not had regular day-to-day interactions with one. Having a trans person in the House of Representatives will give other members a chance to get to know a member of a group that has been demonized in speeches and in the media and learn that there is no truth to those lies.
And if that doesn’t affect their perspective, if they want to say that trans people don’t have rights, at least they’ll have to say it to a trans person’s face. In 2023, state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D) told Montana lawmakers would have “blood on their hands” if they denied gender-affirming care. The matter drew national attention after the Republican speaker of the House prevented Zephyr from speaking on the floor when she refused to apologize for her comment. Without trans representation in that room, it’s possible that no one would have spoken up for trans equality as forcefully as Zephyr did and brought national attention to Republicans’ efforts to attack trans rights.
McBride’s seat comes with a lot of responsibility, expectations, and challenges. No one knows that better than McBride herself, and she has proven herself to be the perfect person for the job. Rather than running on LGBTQ+ concerns and matters of trans rights, her platform is about the issues that face the majority of people in her district: healthcare, reproductive freedom, workers’ rights, and criminal justice reform. She also has a history of reaching across the aisle to get bipartisan approval on policies like paid family leave. McBride’s bona fides on these popular issues will make the inevitable attacks calling her a radical leftist harder to carry any weight.
McBride has highlighted the importance of having that trans voice in the room, noting that “if you’re not at the table, then you are on the menu. And…people like many of us, we are on the menu right now.” In an interview with CBS, she also acknowledged the impact knowing a trans person will have on the other members of the House, saying that “throughout history […] the power of proximity taps what I believe to be the most fundamental human emotion, which is empathy.” She’s also realist enough to recognize that the extreme right-wing likely won’t work with her, but points out that “they’re not gonna work with any Democrat. They can barely work with their own Republican colleagues.”
McBride’s stint in the House won’t be easy, but she can pave the way for those who come in the future.
Before we know it, election day for the November 2024 presidential election will be upon us. We’ve heard time and again that this is the most important election of our lives, something we might be tired of hearing every four years. There is obviously a lot at stake in this election, from abortion rights to how future elections will be held. But what is at stake specifically for the queer community?
Many members of the LGBTQ+ community likely already know who they are going to vote for. In the broadest terms, Donald Trump’s campaign has attacked LGBTQ+ rights and Kamala Harris’ has made moves in a positive direction. But to fully understand the situation, and to be able to explain it to others who might need reminding what a vote in one direction or another might mean for those they love, it’s important to know the full details.
We’re going to take a look at what each of the two leading presidential candidates have said about LGBTQ+ issues, what they’ve promised for the future, and what they’ve actually done. This is all about the top of the ticket. It’s important to remember that the down ticket races are also extremely important as they will help to decide the House, the Senate, and the people making policies on the state level from court houses to schools. Ultimately, the presidential candidate will set the tone for the nation, so let’s start there.
What the 2024 Harris campaign promises on LGBTQ+ issues
When it comes to campaign promises related to LGBTQ+ issues, the Harris is putting all her eggs in one basket. Under the heading of “Protect Civil Rights and Freedoms,” Harris promises that, if elected, she will fight to pass the Equality Act, noting that it would “enshrine anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQI+ Americans in health care, housing, education, and more into law.”
The Equality Act would update past civil rights laws, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to create explicit protections against discrimination on matters of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity at a federal level. In addition, it updates what is defined as a “public space” to include businesses that might otherwise try to skirt civil rights protections. Passing the Equality Act would fairly immediately create a positive legacy for a Harris presidency, but it’s also a big swing. The campaign notably says that she will “fight to pass the Equality Act.” Even as president, she would not have the power to pass the act through executive order and would need Congress to sign off on it.
While most US citizens seem to support the principles behind the Equality Act, a version of the most recent iteration of the bill was introduced in Congress in 2015 and failed to pass. Since then, it has been reintroduced several times only to die in committee. The most recent version was in 2023 and was referred to the committees of jurisdiction. Then-President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden supported the Equality Act in 2015, and Biden and Harris have both repeatedly pushed for it to be passed since taking office. For Harris to pull off passing the Equality Act as president, she’d also need a Democratic majority in Congress, or else convince a lot of Republicans to support it.
The only other mention of LGBTQ+ matters in Harris’ campaign platform is in a note about “Trump’s Project 2025 Agenda.” Laying out some of Donald Trump’s plans highlights where she stands in relation to her opponent. Perhaps a stark contrast, but it’s a promise of what she won’t do, rather than what she will do for LGBTQ+ people in the United States.
What Harris has done on LGBTQ+ issues
Harris has been relatively quiet on LGBTQ+ issues during the campaign. However, there is probably good reason for that. Harris is already seen as the safer vote by many LGBTQ+ voters and raising the topics opens the door for more vitriol from opponents and the creation of sound bites for attack ads. That feels disheartening, but in many ways what is more important than what she promises to do is what she has already done in the past and continues to do.
As San Francisco’s district attorney:
Harris established a hate crimes unit that worked to prosecute those who committed violent crimes against LGBTQ+ youth and brought heavier punishments for those crimes as a deterrent.
She refused to defend Proposition 8 (which banned same-sex Marriage in California) when it was challenged. After the ban was overturned, Harris officiated the first same-sex marriage, that of Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, two of the plaintiffs in the case against Proposition 8.
Harris opposed North Carolina’s 2016 trans bathroom ban, adding California to a legal brief from several states opposing first trans bathroom ban in the United States.
As a senator from 2017-2021,
Harris worked on bills to support the LGBTQ+ community and to prohibit discrimination against them.
She pushed for conversion therapy to be ineligible to receive federal funds.
Kamala Harris co-sponsored bills to ban the gay and trans panic defenses federally.
Note: In a Republican-controlled Senate, these bills were largely not voted on.
As Joe Biden’s Vice-President & as a presidential candidate
The Biden-Harris Administration has been much more overtly pro-LGBTQ+ than past administrations. Among the many positive moves for the LGBTQ+ community, the administration passed the Respect for Marriage Act and worked to dismantle previous anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, such as the 2017 ban on trans people in the military.
In education, Harris has forcefully opposed “Don’t Say Gay” lawsthat force LGBTQ+ teachers to hide their identities from their students.
Harris has pushed for the defense of fundamental rights, citing the attacks on the LGBTQ+ community’s freedoms, during her campaign and her October media blitz.
Harris has one major black mark on her record. That comes from her time as California’s attorney general. In 2015, she issued legal briefs denying gender-affirming surgeries for two inmates in the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation. She has since taken responsibility for the decision and apologized, noting in 2020 that there needed to be a better understanding of the needs of trans people. During her 2019 presidential run, Harris supported gender-affirming care for prison inmates in her answers to an ACLU questionnaire.
Related
Harris’ pick for running mate
While Harris’ campaign might be light on LGBTQ+ policy statements, her choice of Tim Walz as her running mate says a lot about her intended direction. Walz has consistently been ahead of the curve on LGBTQ+ issues.
While working as a high school teacher, Walz sponsored the creation of Mankato West High School’s first Gay-Straight Alliance.
Walz ran for the House of Representatives on a platform supporting same-sex marriage.
In Congress, Walz voted to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and co-sponsored the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.
As Minnesota’s Governor, Walz signed a statewide conversion therapy ban.
In 2023, he signed an executive order to protect the right to gender-affirming care in Minnesota, both for residents of the state and those from other states.
What the 2024 Trump campaign promises on LGBTQ+ issues
Donald Trump’s campaign site includes an abbreviated explanation of his platform. Of the 20 points, only two deal with LGBTQ+ issues. Point 16 takes issue with queer identities being taught or discussed in schools: “Cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, radical gender ideology, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children.” Point 17 uses dog whistle language to attack trans athletes by implying that they are not the gender that they are: “Keep men out of women’s sports.”
The more detailed manifesto, marked as the 2024 GOP Platform, is 15 pages long and elaborates more on these points. Trump promises to “ban Taxpayer [sic] funding for sex change surgeries,” which presumably means removing gender-affirming care from Medicare, a policy already enacted in Florida which has done massive damage to trans people in the state. He also vows to “stop Taxpayer-funded Schools from promoting gender transition,” something that isn’t happening, but rather an idea that Trump has been trying to push despite other Republicans acknowledging that it is untrue. At the 2023 CPAC, Trump also stated he would “revoke every Biden policy promoting the chemical castration and sexual mutilation of our youth and ask Congress to send me a bill prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states.” Trump is presumably alluding to gender-affirming surgeries being performed on minors. A Harvard studyfound that gender-affirming surgeries were non-existent in young children and rare among teens (and also requiring parental consent). Along with plans to “reverse Biden’s radical rewrite of Title IX Education Regulations,” what this would actually do is discriminate against trans people, particularly trans youth, and leave them to be misgendered and denied access to basic accommodations and reasonable healthcare.
Donald Trump and Project 2025
It’s hard to talk about Donald Trump’s campaign promises without talking about Project 2025. The Democratic campaign has worked hard to align the two. Trump, however, has worked to distance himself from it, claiming that he “knows nothing” and had “no idea” who is behind it. CNN has listed 140 former Trump advisers who have worked on Project 2025, so it is perhaps hard to believe that Trump was entirely ignorant of its existence, content, and origin (although, if he was, that’s perhaps also worrying). Most gender-affirming surgeries in teens were actually found to have been for cis men who wanted chest reductions. Among many of the plans laid out in the 900 page document, Project 2025 takes aim at the progress made in recent years by planning to rescind prohibitions on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and more (find the full details on page 584).
Whether Trump aligns himself with Project 2025 or not, it is worth being aware of the vision it lays out for America. The manifesto was spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that influenced the Reagan administration, opposed the Respect for Marriage Act, has been behind a huge number of the anti-trans bills that have appeared in legislatures across the country in recent years, and is consistently ranked as one of the most influential think tanks in the United States.
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What Trump has done on LGBTQ+ issues
Trump has been loud on LGBTQ+ issues, particularly on trans topics. As he is a Republican and many of the other politicians in his party have run on anti-trans platforms in recent years, that perhaps isn’t surprising. Prior to winning the presidency in 2016, Trump’s comments and actions wavered a little with some overtures made to the LGBTQ+ community but became more consistent after attaining office. The best way to understand Trump’s views and the actions he can be expected to take if he becomes president after the November 2024 elections is to look at his record in office and on the road.
In 2016, Trump said he would “strongly consider” appointing Supreme Court judges inclined to overturn the same-sex marriage decision, saying he disagreed with the ruling.
The Trump administration rolled back protections for transgender students, withdrawing from working for protections and revoking Obama administration guidance that protected trans students under Title IX.
Nominated Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court, a judge with an anti-LGBTQ+ record.
Trump announced removal of sexual orientation and gender identity topics from 2020 census, helping to erase the LGBTQ+ from data and make it harder to provide assistance to the queer community.
Trump announced a ban on trans people serving openly in the military. The ban would be held up in the courts and opposed by generals and admirals, before going into effect in 2019. The ban was overturned by the Biden administration in January 2021.
Trump’s department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced regulations for allowing medical providers to deny care for LGBTQ+ patients if it went against their personal beliefs, even in a life-or-death situation.
The Trump administration argued in the Supreme Court thatemployers should be able to fire LGBTQ+ people because of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Nominated Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court, a judge who defended those dissenting in the case that legalized same-sex marriage.
After leaving office in 2021, Trump continued to make comments about the LGBTQ+ community with the focus moving to transgender people. Here are some plans that he has stated at rallies but not listed in his Agenda 47 platform.
Ban transgender athletes from competing on teams that match their gender identity
Ask Congress to pass legislation to only recognize gender assigned at birth, and to only include binary options.
Ask the FDA to “investigate whether transgender hormone treatments and ideology increase the risk of extreme depression, aggression and even violence.” A request phrased to imply that trans people are dangerous and violent, which as been pushed by recent false reporting and is not supported by the data.
Donald Trump has made his plans for LGBTQ+ people clear, and his selections for vice-president have reflected that. In 2016, Trump chose the famously anti-LGBTQ+ Mike Pence as his running mate. With Pence not returning to Trump’s ticket for the 2024 campaign, Trump had an opportunity to provide balance to his ticket. However, he selected Ohio senator JD Vance, who similarly has an anti-LGBTQ+ pedigree and has been happy to parrot Trump’s remarks on the campaign trail after doing a heel turn on previous comments about Trump and formerly identifying himself as a never-Trumper.
Vance’s approach to LGBTQ+ issues has evolved with his political ambitions. Prior to his more recent posturing, Vance supported his friend Sofia Nelson through their transition , attended a Pride parade in San Francisco, and gave a positive response to the experience. He has since turned his back on Nelson.
Vance equated discussing LGBTQ+ identities in schools with pedophilia, referring to people who wanted comprehensive sex and gender education in school as “groomers.”
In 2023, JD Vance introduced a bill called the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act.” The bill would not only prohibit the gender-affirming surgeries that Trump’s platform cites, but all transition-related healthcare, including puberty blockers and hormone treatments.
Vance proposed a bill to ban the ability to use “X” as a gender on US passports.
When it comes to LGBTQ+ rights, freedoms, and protections, the 2024 presidential election offers the opportunity to move forwards or to take some big steps backwards. While our choices are rarely perfect, there is one candidate in this race who is clearly going to help to make the United States safer for queer people. It is also important to remember the down-ballot races when voting in this election. The president might set the tone, but from Congress to school boards anti-LGBTQ+ policies can still be enacted if the wrong people get their hands on power.
Election day is November 5, 2024. Early voting has already started. For information on casting your vote visit Vote.org, and check out our guide for voting while trans.
