LGBTQ activist Sarah McBride broke the mold in 2016 as the first transgender person to speak at a major party convention. Here's what you need to know about her.
Special thanks to For They Know Not What They Do
Special thanks to For They Know Not What They Do
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00:00For as long as I can remember, I've known that I'm a girl.
00:03My parents and the doctors didn't necessarily know that when I was born.
00:19My name is Sarah McBride, and I am a proud transgender American.
00:31It doesn't take long to recognize that a lot of people in society don't approve of being transgender.
00:45Some of my earliest memories are of lying in bed at night praying that I would wake up the next day and be myself.
00:52That my family would still be proud of me, and that I could still dream big dreams.
00:57But by my junior year in college, that pain had become too much, and it was a fact I thought about every single waking hour of every single day.
01:14They were shocked, but more than anything else, they were scared.
01:18They were scared of rejection, they were scared of discrimination, they were scared of violence.
01:22Though at the same time, despite how scared they were, they also understood that their role as parents was to love me and support me.
01:41One of the things that has been so important for our family throughout this journey is that we have felt it's important to share our story.
01:51We understand that it becomes much more difficult to hate someone or fear someone whose story you know.
01:57And so throughout this process, we've been willing to share our stories publicly.
02:20She courageously stood before the General Assembly to describe her personal struggles with gender identity and communicate her desire to return home to Delaware after graduating from college without fear.
02:51Will we be a nation where there's only one way to love, only one way to look, and only one way to live?
02:57Or will we be a nation where everyone has the freedom to live openly and equally?
03:10We know that when you live at the intersection of not just transphobia, but misogyny and racism, you can face violence and discrimination.
03:21There are transgender people who aren't as lucky as I am to be born into a family with economic means, who've had an educational background like I've been able to have.
03:37I am completely convinced that through all of these challenges, we will demonstrate what we have demonstrated from Stonewall to the steps of the Supreme Court.
03:55We will demonstrate that our momentum is more powerful than any single president and any prejudice, that we will continue to move equality forward no matter the challenges we face.
04:05And that we will build a world where our understanding of we the people finally includes every single one of us.