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Transgender A.U. student leader finds acceptance

Fellow students, Delaware governor embrace Sarah McBride’s transition

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‘For my entire life, I’ve wrestled with my gender identity,’ Sarah McBride wrote in a May 1 op-ed column in American University’s student newspaper. (Photo courtesy of McBride)

Sarah McBride says she loves politics and loves her home state of Delaware.

A native of Wilmington, McBride, 21, has been active in Delaware politics since the age of 13 and worked on the 2008 election campaign of Gov. Jack Markell (D). When Markell won the Democratic primary in September 2008, he and his wife Carla invited McBride to introduce the future governor on the stage where he delivered his victory speech.

All of that, McBride points out, unfolded around Tim McBride, the person she informed her fellow students at American University last week that she had officially transitioned from.

“For my entire life, I’ve wrestled with my gender identity,” she wrote in a May 1 op-ed column in the Eagle, American University’s student newspaper. “It was only after the experiences of this year that I was able to come to terms with what had been my deepest secret: I’m transgender.”

In an interview with the Blade this week, McBride said she’s known as long as she can remember that her true gender was that of a female. But she suppressed taking action on that realization out of fear that her longstanding desire to become active in politics and eventually run for public office would be jeopardized if she changed her gender, she said.

“For the longest time my only ambition was to become an elected official and to change the world through that,” she told the Blade. “Those goals and those dreams sort of went hand in hand.”

Tim McBride advanced that goal shortly after beginning as a freshman political science student at American University in 2009. With political experience gained in Delaware as a backdrop, McBride won election to the A.U. student senate before winning election last year as president of the A.U. student government.

She submitted her op-ed column to the Eagle on the day after her term as student president ended and, upon completion of her junior year this spring, with one year to go before her graduation in June 2013.

In the column she noted that she came out as transgender to her parents and closest friends during the winter recess this year.

“Today is the next day of the life I’ve already had, but at the same time, the first day of the life I always knew I wanted to lead,” she said in the column. “Starting on Saturday, I will present as my true self. Going forward, I ask that you use female pronouns (she/her) and my chosen name, Sarah.”

In an interview with the Blade on Wednesday, McBride said the response on campus has been overwhelmingly positive.

“I always knew that I went to an inclusive and accepting school,” she said. “But the outpouring of love and support was so far beyond my expectations. I’ve never been prouder to go to A.U.”

She added, “And I really do hope this experience for our campus is not a blip on the gossip mill. I hope it’s an opportunity to raise awareness for a sustained inclusion and awareness of trans students.”

McBride said she considers herself privileged coming from a supportive, upper-income family that had the means to send her to a supportive university in the nation’s capital. Many transgender young people encounter far less supportive families and face discrimination and prejudice at every turn.

Among her goals is to work with the transgender and LGBT community to fight discrimination. She said her dreams to advance that goal by becoming involved in electoral politics in her home state were boosted in March when she came out to Gov. Markell and his wife, First Lady Carla Markell.

“They were incredible,” she said. “They were amazing. “They’re two of the best people I know and beyond my parents they are some of my biggest mentors and supporters. When I told them it was unconditional love from them. They said they were just as proud of me and that they were there for me 100 percent.”

She said other political leaders in the state have been similarly supportive. Although as Tim McBride and now as Sarah she has been known as a loyal Democratic Party activist, McBride said, “All of the active Republicans I know have sent me messages of love and support as well.”

McBride said she has accumulated enough college credits to spend the fall semester working as an intern with the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, where she hopes to help the organization elect openly LGBT people to public office throughout the country, including two openly gay candidates running for office in Delaware.

She would complete her senior year at A.U. next spring. She’s considering law school or graduate school sometime in the future, with politics still on the horizon.

“This entire experience has taught me that the goal of changing the world is a good goal,” she said, adding that seeking to become an elected official should be a means rather than an end to “improving and changing your community and your world…So that’s sort of been my readjustment of my life in terms of my dreams and my ambitions.”

Among those who have helped guide and mentor her in the process of transitioning has been Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, McBride said.

“She’s going to be a real powerhouse in whatever she does,” Keisling told the Blade. “She’s very politically savvy, very politically connected. I’m very excited not only that she’s transitioning but she’s transitioning with a real strong sense of social justice and political acumen.”

Keisling added, “So I’m hopeful for real big things for Sarah.”

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Maryland

Trone discusses transgender niece

Blade interviewed Md. congressman, Angela Alsobrooks last week

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U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) (Photo public domain)

Editor’s note: The Washington Blade last week interviewed both U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. The full interviews with both Democratic candidates for retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.)’s seat will be on the Blade’s website later this week.

Maryland Congressman David Trone last week discussed his transgender niece during an interview with the Washington Blade about his U.S. Senate campaign.

Trone, who is running to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), on May 1 told the Blade during a telephone interview that his niece transitioned when she was in her early 20s. Trone also noted she attended Furman University, a small, liberal arts university in Greenville, S.C.

“I was concerned about how she would be able to transition there,” said Trone.

Trone, who founded Total Wine & More, attended Furman University as an undergrad and is on the school’s board of trustees. Trone told the Blade he donated $10 million to the university to “build out their mental health capacity, which I felt was a way that she could have the best mental health care possible when she worked her way through (her) transition.”

Trone’s niece graduated from the university after she spent five years there.

“She had a great relationship with Furman,” said Trone.

Trone and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks are the leading Democrats running to succeed Cardin. The winner of the May 14 Democratic primary will face former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in November.

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District of Columbia

200 turn out for ’Love Fest’ Drag Story Hour at Freddie’s

Performer reads stories to kids and parents as three protest outside

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Freddie’s hosted a ‘Love Fest’ Drag Story Hour on Saturday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Between 200 and 250 people, including parents and their children, turned out on Saturday, May 4, for a “Love Fest” Drag Story Hour brunch hosted by the Arlington, Va., LGBTQ establishment Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant.

Local drag performer Tara Hoot, who read children’s stories and handed out coloring books to the kids attending the event, was joined by members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, which sang several songs before Hoot began reading from children’s books in keeping with the tradition of drag queens conducting Drag Story Hour events across the country.

The May 4 event at Freddie’s in the Crystal City section of Arlington took place four weeks after the start of a similar event hosted by Freddie’s was delayed by a bomb threat, forcing those who had arrived  to exit through a rear door and wait in a parking lot as Arlington police conducted a search of the premises with a bomb sniffing dog. No trace of a bomb was found.

All the customers, including parents and their kids, were invited back inside and the show took place as planned.

Tara Hoot entertains at ‘Love Fest’ on Saturday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

No similar threat occurred at the May 4 event. But three male protesters assembled on the sidewalk next to the parking lot behind the Freddie’s building, with one of them shouting from a bullhorn passages from his Bible that he said indicated the Drag Story Hour event was an “abomination.”

The three protesters were outnumbered by nearly a dozen counter protesters who were  members of the Rainbow Defense Coalition, an LGBTQ organization. They carried bright, rainbow-colored umbrellas while chanting messages of support for the Drag Story Hour event.

Freddie Lutz, Freddie’s Beach Bar owner, called the event a “smashing success” that brought an “outpouring of love from the community.” Lutz released a flier on social media promoting the Love Fest event shortly after the earlier event interrupted by the bomb threat as a showing of love “to stop the hate.”

“Join us for the next story time brunch dressed in your favorite rainbow/hippie outfit” and “carry your favorite homemade signs of support,” Lutz said in his promotional flier. He came to the event dressed in what he called his hippie protest outfit.

Lutz said while the protesters did not interrupt the event, he was concerned that their shouting was scaring some of the kids as they and their parents walked by the protesters to enter Freddie’s.

“I went out back and tried to talk to one of them and it was kind of like talking to a brick wall,” Lutz told the Washington Blade. “He was screaming at the parents that were crossing their kids on the crosswalk,” Lutz said. “And I said, you’re screaming at those kids, you’re scaring them.”

Lutz said the man told him he was yelling at the parents, not the kids. “And I said, no you’re not. The kids are hearing you. You’re scaring them.”

Added Lutz, “And to have such a fun-loving, happy show and then walk out on the sidewalk to that is very disheartening. It’s really sad. I told him my God is a forgiving and loving God.”

One of the protesters, who declined to disclose his name, said he and his two fellow protesters came to talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

“We want them to know this is an abomination to the Lord,” he told the Blade. “We want them to know those children don’t have a voice and they’re being brainwashed in there. We’re here to call out their sin.”

A protester stands outside of Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington, Va. flanked by several LGBTQ rights supporters. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Stephanie Krenrich, who brought her two-year-old daughter to the event, said she strongly disputes the claims of the protesters.

“I brought my daughter here because I think that it was a beautiful and wonderful show, and it was great for her,” she said. “And I think it’s pretty offensive when people come to Arlington and tell parents what to do, especially for something so beautiful and so fun and so wholesome,” she told the Blade.

“So that’s why I brought her,” Krenrich said. “I think that it’s really important that we stand up for our values and people just being themselves, being happy and being them.”

Among those who attended the event were four elected officials from Arlington – Virginia State Sen. Barbara Favola, Virginia State Del. Adele McClure, Arlington County Board member Maureen Coffee, and Arlington and Falls Church State’s Attorney Parisa Dehgani-Tafti.

Also attending was Nick Benton, editor and publisher of the LGBTQ supportive Falls Church, Va., News Press; and Kellen McBeth, president of the LGBTQ group Equality Arlington.

“It was fantastic to see so many people come out to support Freddie’s, to support the LGBTQ+ community,” McBeth said. “It was a great event and we’re happy to be a part of it.”

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District of Columbia

Another successful Taste of Point fundraiser

Scholars praise financial, networking support

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Taste of Point was held last Thursday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Point Foundation hosted its annual Taste of Point DC fundraising event on Thursday with nine participating restaurants, a drag performance, and a silent auction. 

The event was hosted on the rooftop of the Room & Board on 14th Street, with an afterparty at Shakers. Point donors, scholars, and alumni circled the rooftop eating chips and guacamole from Mi Vida and drinking Pinot Grigio from Barkada. 

After about an hour of mingling the events began with event committee member, Kelly Horton and Kevin Kim Wright, chief of staff welcoming the crowd and speaking about the importance of their presence during this pivotal time in queer youth history. Then, Wright welcomed BIPOC Scholar Katherine Guerrero Rivera, saying she was a model of a Point scholar. 

“We’re always impressed with all of our scholars and Katherine is another example of a student who is deeply engaged in their campus life and a myriad of projects, everything from creating her own podcast to being a part of a number of student organizations.” Wright said. 

Rivera said that the Point Foundation scholarship helps her resist the pressure to drop out. She pointed out that just over 50 percent of Latina students who attend college graduate. 

“The Point BIPOC Scholarship is not just financial support, Point has connected me with hundreds of people like me studying on campuses across the country.” she said.

Rivera is a criminology major and poetics minor at University of Maryland and said she hopes to use her degree to bring knowledge to her community through art and advocacy. She said it is important for her to take academic jargon and make it accessible to her community. 

“Too often, the history of LGBTQ and people are ignored and silenced during our education,” she said. “I want to use my access to higher education and the chance to develop my creative skills to bring light to societal issues.”

She finished her speech with applause for the audience, then Horton came back with drag queen Tara Hoot to discuss ways donors could continue to support the Point Foundation. 

After the lineup of events Wright said he felt great about the event, because it was a celebration of Point’s scholars. 

“Some are interning for United States senators, some are volunteering for leading national non-profits, so to be able to celebrate all that’s being done here is truly amazing,”

Wright continued, thanking the D.C. restaurant community for consistently showing up in force to support Point. 

“This really helps to paint the picture that this movement is growing,” he said. “People believe in this mission to provide LGBTQ young people with the opportunity to pursue their higher education goals, to improve their leadership abilities and then go on to make a significant impact on society.”

CLICK HERE to see more photos from Taste of Point.

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