The Delaware senator who transformed Joe Biden’s view of transgender rights

Speaking before the largest Pride celebration in White House history this month, President Joe Biden looked out at the crowd and marveled at the people in front of him. He recognized “leaders across our administration,” like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, and took time to acknowledge his ambassador to Switzerland, Scott Miller, among other LGBTQ luminaries.

Along the way, Biden dropped another name, of a relatively obscure Delaware state senator.

“I am proud,” Biden said, “that back home in Delaware [we have] the first transgender state legislator in American history, Sarah McBride.”

Five days later, at the signing of an executive order “advancing protections for LGBTQI+ Individuals,” Biden mentioned McBride again. “Sarah,” he said, “you’re — wonderful to see you, kiddo.”

The mentions were odes to a person who, people in Biden’s orbit and others active in the advocacy space say, has directly shaped Biden’s personal and political evolution on transgender issues.

McBride’s close ties with the Biden family date back over 15 years. Last week, the country’s first transgender state senator announced she’s running for Delaware’s open House seat, in a bid that could make her the first openly transgender member of the U.S. Congress.

As Republican-led states pass a growing number of laws restricting access to medical care for minors and the country sees a rise in anti-LGBTQ hate and extremism, Biden has leaned on McBride, calling her to discuss the current moment in American politics. Over time, she has helped turn one of the most devout Catholic presidents in U.S. history into an unlikely champion of LGBTQ causes.

“We’ve talked about how scared people are around the country, and I’ve shared with him just how much it means to people when they see him speak up and act out to protect LGBTQ rights and LGBTQ people,” McBride said in an interview with POLITICO.

McBride’s relationship with the Biden family began in 2006. She was a high schooler when she worked for Beau Biden’s attorney general campaign, establishing a close connection to the eldest Biden son. McBride worked for Beau Biden again in 2010 as a member of his small reelection campaign team. She was his “body person” for most of that summer, driving him up and down the state to campaign events.

In 2012, while serving as student body president at American University, McBride came out as transgender. She shared her coming out note on Facebook and in the student newspaper, unsure of what it would mean for her future in politics.

“It was before what Time Magazine called the ‘transgender tipping point,’” McBride said. “I just didn’t know how Delaware, Delaware politics would respond to an out transgender person.”

That night, Beau Biden gave her a call. He told her she was still a “part of the Biden family.”

McBride went on to intern in the White House Office Of Public Engagement later that year, working with the Office Of Violence Prevention and becoming the first openly transgender person to work in the White House. She saw then-Vice President Biden for the first time since coming out that next January, at a celebration of the Naval Observatory.

Biden walked up to McBride and asked her how she was doing.

“Are you happy?” he asked.

He then told her that Beau was so proud of her, and gave her a hug.

For McBride, these moments of acceptance, particularly from a politician she looked up to as a young kid interested in a political career, were vital. As a 10-year-old, she ran into Biden for the first time at a local pizza shop. Now the vice president stood before her, affirming his support at a time when politicians weren’t embracing transgender people.

These moments also weren’t insignificant for Biden, who was in turn greatly affected by McBride’s coming out. But she said the Biden administration’s journey and commitment today to LGBTQ equality can’t be explained without Beau Biden.

“I truly think that part of this is this president feeling closer to his son, and his son’s legacy,” McBride said.

In 2013, Beau Biden joined Democratic Delaware Gov. Jack Markell in backing marriage equality legislation. But what was seen as a bigger deal among LGBTQ advocates at the time was his support for trans people. He urged state lawmakers to pass legislation to establish protections based on gender identity, said Lisa Goodman, founding president of Equality Delaware.

Beau Biden made videos for her organization backing transgender rights, as arguments and attacks began to emerge about transgender people and restrooms.

“I can’t tell you the people I’ve spoken to over the years who have sat down with me and said — including, frankly, members of my own extended family — things like, ‘I never understood gay people. I never really was on board until my son, daughter, niece, nephew, brother, came out to me,’” Goodman said. “That’s the single most powerful thing you can do, is come out either as LGBTQ or as an ally."

“And I think Sarah had a huge effect on both of them.”

The 80-year-old president, who as a senator voted for the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage as between a man and a woman, has been ahead of the political curve on LGBTQ issues for the last decade. In 2012, the same year McBride came out, Biden famously disclosed his support for same-sex marriage before his boss at the time, President Barack Obama. Last year, he signed the Respect for Marriage Act, cementing his role as a central figure in the movement.

But his message on transgender issues has also been forward-leaning, McBride said, noting that Biden, also in 2012, called transgender discrimination the “civil rights issue of our time.” In the foreword for McBride’s 2018 book, “Tomorrow will be different: Love, loss and the fight for trans equality,” Biden wrote: “It’s about freeing the soul of America from the constraints of bigotry, hate, and fear, and opening people’s hearts and minds to what binds us all together.”

Republicans have seized on transgender issues as a base motivator. In 2023 alone, nearly 500 pieces of legislation targeting LGBTQ rights have been introduced across state legislatures. Former President Donald Trump has vowed to punish doctors who provide gender-affirming care if reelected, and to reinstate his ban on transgender people in the U.S. military that Biden overturned.

A White House official pointed to numerous actions Biden has taken as president, including his administration’s efforts to strengthen protections for transgender youth in education and health care through rulemaking. The White House and federal agency officials have also met with families affected by anti-LGBTQ state laws, transgender youth have visited the White House to share their stories, and Biden has spoken directly to transgender youth in all three of his addresses before a joint session of Congress.

Earlier this month, responding to a question about anti-LGBTQ and anti-transgender laws popping up across the country, Biden urged Congress to pass the Equality Act and condemned “prejudiced” and “unjustified” attacks on LGBTQ Americans.

“Our fight is far, far from over because we have some hysterical and, I would argue, prejudiced people who are engaged in all of what you see going on around the country,” Biden said. “It’s an appeal to fear, and it’s an appeal that is totally, thoroughly unjustified and ugly.”