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Feminists Around the World: Sarah McBride, Part 1 · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephan
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: never told your production by her yo.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And today let me put this date here, December third,
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. We are talking about someone who's been
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: on a lot of people's minds and really has had
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: people talking though she doesn't even know a lot of
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: other people don't exist, like she doesn't know you.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: And yet we're talking about her.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: And yes, we're talking about newly elected Congresswoman Sarah McBride.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Of course, with all of the transphobic rhetoric to happening today,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: she has been the topic of a lot of conversation recently.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: She has been the main focus for some other members
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: of Congress who've made it their biggest job, which is
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: odd because there's a lot happening to make sure she
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: feels unwelcome, and about her bathroom music, because you know,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: that's the most important thing happening here. But before we
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: dive into that, we want to take a look at
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: McBride's work and record as a feature of The Activist
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: around the World. Fyi, this has become a two parter,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: so yes, we're going to kind of split about what
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: is happening, how she got here, and what is happening today,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: and then we're going to talk about the reaction, because
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of comments happening specifically from the trans
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: community rightly so, so we do want to reflect on
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: that for those in the trans community, for those in
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: the queer community. Content warning. Obviously we're going to talk
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: about anti queer rhetoric and conversation, anti trans rhetoric and conversations.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: So this is a bit much.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: I understand, but we also do want to take moments
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: to celebrate a woman who has worked really hard to
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: get to where she is and felt that it's important
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: that she does it as her true self, which I
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: think is a bigger conversation we don't talk about enough
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: because instead the world is awful.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Anyway, here we go, let's go into it.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: So who is Sarah mc McBride has stated she has
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: always had an interest in politics. Born to David and
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Sally McBride in Wilmington, Delaware, McBride isn't a stranger to
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: policies and standards in general. Her father was a lawyer
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: while her mother was a counselor, and she actually the
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: founder of Cabot Callaway School of the Arts, which Sarah
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: did attend. She soon earned her bachelor's in twenty thirteen
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: from American University of DC, and is during this time
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: McBride talks about how her interest in politics really grew.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: She had already worked as a staffer for different Delaware campaigns,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: including for Governor Jack Markle Attorney General Bo Biden, and
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: she would soon after be elected as the student body
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: president at American University. And it was during this time
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: that McBride came out as trans, and even then she
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: was getting attention just for existing and coming out. She
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: made headlines in twenty twelve coming out, and within the
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: same year she was the first trans woman to work
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: in the world White House as an intern for the
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Obama administration. But as we said, her coming out was
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: on public display. Here's a bit from her Wikipedia page.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: McBride's coming out was featured on NPR, the Huffington Post,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: and by Lady Guga's Born This Way Foundation. That's an
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: interesting added to the other two, but hey, that's interesting.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: After coming out, McBride received a call from Delaware Attorney
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: General Bo Biden saying, quote, Sarah, I just wanted you
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: to know I'm so proud of you.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: I love you.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: And you're still a part of the Biden family. Vice
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: President now President Joe Biden expressed similar sentiments, sharing that
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: he was proud of her and happy for her. So
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: definitely already has that link. Has been doing this work
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: for a minute. So one of those moments where I'm like, man,
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: you did a lot. What was I doing in twenty thirteen?
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: I was working for the government. I was working for
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: the government, just not on that level.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Important as well. You were working for feminist content. We
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: were doing things. We were doing.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: So as an intern, McBride was hard at work advocating
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: for LGBTQ rights and issues, and she was praised for
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: her work during her time there. She has acknowledged the
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: difficulties in coming out. Here's what she published in her
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: coming out article for the university paper. She writes, I
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: wrestled with the idea that my dream and my identity
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: seemed mutually exclusive. I had to pick my life was
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: passing me by, and I was done wasting it as
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: someone I wasn't. I'm sure that article was really impactful
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: as well as very hard to write. From what I
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: read that it was really moving and touching in the
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: words that she printed and doing so as a public
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  Speaker 2: figure I couldn't imagine, and becoming her true self propelled
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: her forward in her activism as well. In twenty thirteen,
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  Speaker 2: McBride was a part of the board of directors of
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  Speaker 2: Equality Delaware, advocating for legal protection for the trends queer community,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: and soon she helped pass legislation to help prevent discrimination
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: based on gender in twenty thirteen in the state of Delaware.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: After her success with this legislation, she worked with the
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: Center of American Progress to advocate for the rights and
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: protection of the LGBTQ plus community as well. And of course,
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: during all of this time, she was still heavily involved
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: in the political world, including speaking at the twenty sixteen
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Democratic National Convention during Hillary Clinton's campaign. In the speech,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: she paid tribute to her late husband, Andrew Cray, who
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: was also an activist for the queer community, and though
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: her husband died a few days after their official wedding,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: she has talked openly about the amount of impact Cray
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: has had on her life, as well as the support
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: she had from him.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: And with all that, in twenty nineteen, McBride decided to
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: step into the political arena herself and ran for Delaware Senate,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: and in twenty twenty, McBride made history as the first
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: trans person to be a state senator in the United States.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Here's a bit from her website, Sarah McBride dot com quote.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: As a state senator, McBride has passed legislation expanding access
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: to healthcare, requiring mental health and media literacy education in
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  Speaker 1: public schools, promoting green technologies, preventing lead poisoning and youth,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: and protecting workers and families. In just her first term,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: McBride passed the landmark Healthy Delaware Families Act, providing paid
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: family and medical leave to workers throughout the first state,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: and marking the largest expansion of Delaware's social safety net
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: in decades.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: So with all of that under her belt, she has
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: now been elected as the first transperson in the United
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: States House of Representatives. She announced her intention to run
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three to replace Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: She was actually endorsed by Rochester and in the twenty
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: twenty four election she won against John wayland IID. Here's
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: a bit about her win from NBC News. McBride's key
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: priorities for her congressional run were expanding access to affordable healthcare,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: protecting reproductive rights, and increasing the minimum wage. She told
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: NBC News in September that her goal in Congress was
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: to work with her colleagues to break through the artisan
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: gridlock and actually pass legislation, which she became known for
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: during her time in Delaware's Senate. During her first term,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: she helped pass universal paid family and medical leaf across
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: the state. So pretty big things. Of course, this is
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: just very minor details that she's done. There's a lot
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: of impact that she has had within the Delaware Senate,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: which is why she was able to be elected. And
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: the article continues with a statement she made at her celebration. Quote,
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  Speaker 2: tonight is a testament to Delawareans that here in our
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: state of neighbors, we judge candidates based on their ideas
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: and not their identities, McBride said at Delaware's Democratic election
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  Speaker 2: Night celebration Tuesday night. She thanks her friends and family
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: and her late husband, Andy Cray, who died of cancer
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: in twenty fourteen, just days after their wedding. Quote, My
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: time with Andy reinforced for me a simple truth that
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: hope as an emotion, hope as a phenomenon, only makes
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: sense in the face of hardship, while at the moment
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: in America's history, hope sometimes feel hard to come by.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: We must never forget that we are the beneficiaries of
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: seemingly impossible change, which I wish we could just end
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: it there. You know, that's such a great speech. We
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: get to make history, you get to move on and celebrate.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: But of course with her celebration comes controversy, as she
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: started her journey with an orientation. Of course, conservative lawmakers
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: have made their biases known pretty quickly. Here's some information
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: from The Advocate. Just over two weeks after her historical
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  Speaker 2: election as the first out transgender member of Congress, Delaware
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  Speaker 2: Democratic Representative elect Sarah McBride is facing backline from the
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: members of the trans community over her response to Republicans
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Speaker Mike Johnson's policy banning transgender people from using restrooms
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: aligned with their gender identity and house controlled facilities in Washington,
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  Speaker 2: d C.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and a bit more from the New Yorker quote.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: As the first transgender member of Congress and history, she
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: also experienced an orientation in naked aggression within days of
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: her arrival. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, introduced
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: a resolution that would restrict access to all single sex
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: facilities on Capitol Hill to those of the corresponding biological sex.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: In other words, May sought a bathroom bill and made
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: clear that she absolutely intended it as a reaction to McBride.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to stand for a man, you know,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: someone with a penis in the woman's locker room. May said,
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  Speaker 1: who had claimed to be pro transgender rights as recently
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: as last year, said of her new proposals, so added
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: an odd pseudo feminist twist, it's offensive that a man
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: in a skirt thinks that he's my equal. Mace found
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: support among Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson and Marjorie Taylor Green, who,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: according to Politico, told colleagues that she would fight McBride
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: or the two of them ever to meet in a
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: woman's bathroom on the Hill.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: So professional, Yeah, it's so professional. I'm gonna fight you
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: because you exist. Really, wow, Anya.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Obviously that rhetoric that May said would be what we
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: talk about as terse that twist feminist twist.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: I'll love how they said that instead.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's true, I guess, And disappointingly, not many
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  Speaker 2: of McBride's co workers have stood up for her or
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: for trans people with this specific issue. However, Alexandria Accassio
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Cortez AOC was one of the few who did who
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: called the bill disgusting of course, so there's a lot
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: more to be said. We want to come back and
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: talk about McBride's reaction to this, as well as a
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: lot of the trans community and the queer community, because
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: it unfolds a lot. So it's not our typical way
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: of doing things here at the Activist around the world,
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: but I think it is important that we look at
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: this conversation on a deeper level because it does impact
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: so many. This has a lot of implication. Unfortunately for McBride,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: she's kind of become a talking head, I guess for
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: the transgender community as a leader.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: It would be lovely if we could.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Just say she made it there and we're excited, and
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: yes she has some hiccups, but not that many, and
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: we're cool with it, and everybody is advocating and supporting her.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: But that's not the case.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: So we're going to take a pause this week and
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: come back for the following week as a part two
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: about the reactions to McBride and this bathroom banning bill.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, so keep an ear out for that. But
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: in the meantime, if you want to contact us you can.
• 12:02
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• 12:05
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• 12:14
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• 12:18
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• 12:20
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• 12:22
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