Local
Transgender A.U. student leader finds acceptance
Fellow students, Delaware governor embrace Sarah McBride’s transition
‘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.”
Virginia
DOJ seeks to join lawsuit against Loudoun County over trans student in locker room
Three male high school students suspended after complaining about classmate
The Justice Department has asked to join a federal lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools over the way it handled the case of three male high school students who complained about a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.
The Washington Blade earlier this year reported Loudoun County public schools suspended the three boys and launched a Title IX investigation into whether they sexually harassed the student after they said they felt uncomfortable with their classmate in the locker room at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn.
The parents of two of the boys filed a lawsuit against Loudoun County public schools in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. The Richmond-based Founding Freedoms Law Center and America First Legal, which White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller co-founded, represent them.
The Justice Department in a Dec. 8 press release announced that “it filed legal action against the Loudoun County (Va.) School Board (Loudoun County) for its denial of equal protection based on religion.”
“The suit alleges that Loudoun County applied Policy 8040, which requires students and faculty to accept and promote gender ideology, to two Christian, male students in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” reads the press release.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the press release said “students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate.”
“Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality,” said Dhillon.
Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and outgoing Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in May announced an investigation into the case.
The Virginia Department of Education in 2023 announced the new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students for which Youngkin asked. Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups claim they, among other things, forcibly out trans and nonbinary students.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in February launched an investigation into whether Loudoun County and four other Northern Virginia school districts’ policies in support of trans and nonbinary students violate Title IX and President Donald Trump’s executive order that prohibits federally funded educational institutions from promoting “gender ideology.”
District of Columbia
Capital Pride announces change in date for 2026 D.C. Pride parade and festival
Events related to U.S. 250th anniversary and Trump birthday cited as reasons for change
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C. based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, has announced it is changing the dates for the 2026 Capital Pride Parade and Festival from the second weekend in June to the third weekend.
“For over a decade, Capital Pride has taken place during the second weekend in June, but in 2026, we are shifting our dates in response to the city’s capacity due to major events and preparations for the 250th anniversary of the United States,” according to a Dec. 9 statement released by Capital Pride Alliance.
The statement says the parade will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2026, with the festival and related concert taking place on June 21.
“This change ensures our community can gather safely and without unnecessary barriers,” the statement says. “By moving the celebration, we are protecting our space and preserving Pride as a powerful act of visibility, solidarity, and resistance,” it says.
Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President, told the Washington Blade the change in dates came after the group conferred with D.C. government officials regarding plans for a number of events in the city on the second weekend in June. Among them, he noted, is a planned White House celebration of President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and other events related to the U.S. 250th anniversary, which are expected to take place from early June through Independence Day on July 4.
The White House has announced plans for a large June 14, 2026 celebration on the White House south lawn of Trump’s 80th birthday that will include a large-scale Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event involving boxing and wrestling competition.
Bos said the Capital Pride Parade will take place along the same route it has in the past number of years, starting at 14th and T Streets, N.W. and traveling along 14th Street to Pennsylvania Ave., where it will end. He said the festival set for the following day will also take place at its usual location on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., between 2nd Street near the U.S. Capitol, to around 7th Street, N.W.
“Our Pride events thrive because of the passion and support of the community,” Capital Pride Board Chair Anna Jinkerson said in the statement. “In 2026, your involvement is more important than ever,” she said.
District of Columbia
Three women elected leaders of Capital Pride Alliance board
Restructured body includes chair rather than president as top leader
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced it has restructured its board of directors and elected for the first time three women to serve as leaders of the board’s Executive Committee.
“Congratulations to our newly elected Executive Officers, making history as Capital Pride Alliance’s first all-women Board leadership,” the group said in a statement.
“As we head into 2026 with a bold new leadership structure, we’re proud to welcome Anna Jinkerson as Board Chair, Kim Baker as Board Treasurer, and Taylor Lianne Chandler as Board Secretary,” the statement says.
In a separate statement released on Nov. 20, Capital Pride Alliance says the restructured Board now includes the top leadership posts of Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary, replacing the previous structure of President and Vice President as the top board leaders.
It says an additional update to the leadership structure includes a change in title for longtime Capital Pride official Ryan Bos from executive director to chief executive officer and president.
According to the statement, June Crenshaw, who served as acting deputy director during the time the group organized WorldPride 2025 in D.C., will now continue in that role as permanent deputy director.
The statement provides background information on the three newly elected women Board leaders.
• Anna Jinkerson (chair), who joined the Capital Pride Alliance board in 2022, previously served as the group’s vice president for operations and acting president. “A seasoned non-profit executive, she currently serves as Assistant to the President and CEO and Chief of Staff at Living Cities, a national member collaborative of leading philanthropic foundations and financial institutions committed to closing income and wealth gaps in the United States and building an economy that works for everyone.”
• Kim Baker (treasurer) is a “biracial Filipino American and queer leader,” a “retired, disabled U.S. Army veteran with more than 20 years of service and extensive experience in finance, security, and risk management.” She has served on the Capital Pride Board since 2018, “bringing a proven track record of steady, principled leadership and unwavering dedication to the LGBTQ+ community.”
• Taylor Lianne Chandler (Secretary) is a former sign language interpreter and crisis management consultant. She “takes office as the first intersex and trans-identifying member of the Executive Committee.” She joined the Capital Pride Board in 2019 and previously served as executive producer from 2016 to 2018.
Bos told the Washington Blade in a Dec. 2 interview that the Capital Pride board currently has 12 members, and is in the process of interviewing additional potential board members.
“In January we will be announcing in another likely press release the full board,” Bos said. “We are finishing the interview process of new board members this month,” he said. “And they will take office to join the board in January.”
Bos said the organization’s rules set a cap of 25 total board members, but the board, which elects its members, has not yet decided how many additional members it will select and a full 25-member board is not required.
The Nov. 20 Capital Pride statement says the new board executive members will succeed the organization’s previous leadership team, which included Ashley Smith, who served as president for eight years before he resigned earlier this year; Anthony Musa, who served for seven years as vice president of board engagement; Natalie Thompson, who served eight years on the executive committee; and Vince Micone, who served for eight years as vice president of operations.
“I am grateful for the leadership, dedication, and commitment shown by our former executive officers — Ashley, Natalie, Anthony, and Vince — who have been instrumental in CPA’s growth and the exceptional success of WorldPride 2025,” Bos said in the statement.
“I look forward to collaborating with Anna in her new role, as well as Kim and Taylor in theirs, as we take on the important work ahead, prepare for Capital Pride 2026, and expand our platform and voice through Pride365,” Bos said.
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