Openly trans U.S. Representative Sarah McBride (D-DE) delivered a fiery address outside the Capitol this week, criticising House Republicans for prioritising anti-trans legislation over pressing healthcare needs.
Speaking alongside out Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), McBride condemned the GOP for choosing to schedule votes on two anti-trans bills instead of working to prevent a looming spike in health care costs for Americans.
“They would rather have us focus in and debate a misunderstood and vulnerable one percent of the population,” McBride said, “instead of focusing in on the fact that they are raiding everyone’s health care in order to pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent.”
The two bills set for a vote include Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) Protect Children’s Innocence Act, which would ban gender-affirming care for trans youth and restrict access for adults, and a separate bill from Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) to block Medicaid from covering such care — a bill Greene has co-sponsored.
Meanwhile, subsidies for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans are due to expire at the end of the year. This change could lead to increased health insurance premiums for millions. Despite the urgency, Republican leadership declined to bring a bill to the floor to extend the subsidies. However, in a significant blow to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), four House Republicans joined Democrats in signing a petition to force a vote on the matter.
“They are obsessed with trans people,” McBride added. “I actually think they think more about trans people than trans people think about trans people.”
Calling out Republicans for using trans rights as “political pawns,” McBride argued that medical standards of care should be decided by professionals, not lawmakers:
“Politicians in Washington whose medical knowledge includes thinking that vaccines are the equivalent of the Holocaust,” she said, referencing Rep. Greene’s past controversial remarks.
McBride also spoke about her personal experience as a transgender woman:
“I get it’s hard to understand what it feels like to be trans… to be me. But one of the things that gets so lost in this conversation is that the transgender adults of today were kids once. I was a kid once.”
“I didn’t have the courage to come out until I was 21, but it’s a fact I have known about myself for my entire life. And my biggest regret in life is that I never had a childhood without that pain.”
She closed her remarks by praising the bravery of trans youth today:
“I marvel at the courage of transgender young people… despite the toxicity and the hate that too often emanates from the building behind me.”
