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Since
its founding, ensuring LGBTQ equality has been a core policy issue for the
Biden Institute and while great strides have been made with respect to marriage
equality there is still more work to be done. It is our goal to increase
dialogue and continue the fight for equal treatment, dignity, and justice for
all people. During Transgender Awareness Week, the Biden Institute had the
pleasure of hosting one of the leading advocates for transgender rights, Sarah
McBride, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
Sarah
began her career in political advocacy working on the Delaware statewide
campaigns of Attorney General Beau Biden and Governor Jack Markell. She then
went on to study at American University, where she was elected student body
president. During that time, Sarah came out to her fellow students as
transgender via an op-ed in the student newspaper. She would go on to serve as
an intern at The White House in the Office of Public Engagement and
Intergovernmental Affairs, the first out trans woman to do so.
University of Delaware students and faculty from
an array of disciplines and community members were in attendance for the
conversation with Sarah at our most recent Biden Policy Dinner. After captivating
dinner guests with her life story, which included her successful lobbying
efforts in Delaware for the passage of the Gender Nondiscrimination Act, Sarah
began a conversation with the group concerning the remaining challenges faced
by the transgender community. The discussion ranged from ways to provide
comfortable classroom environments for transgender students to what can be done
to make sure protections are put in place to halt the discrimination that
transgender students face on a daily basis.
