Sarah McBride made history in November 2024 by becoming the first openly transgender person elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Her groundbreaking win also came with hate and discrimination from critics and colleagues. McBride’s journey is captured in the new documentary, “State of Firsts,” which premiered at the Tribeca Festival.
The film delves into the unique challenges McBride faced upon entering Congress. This includes navigating criticism shortly after she publicly stated she would comply with a controversial House rule restricting the use of public women’s restrooms. Her decision was met with disappointment and anger from parts of the transgender community, who had hoped McBride would actively oppose such measures.
In the documentary, McBride candidly discusses the pressures she faced. “It’s easy to tell a simple story about a first or about a person’s experience, but you don’t get many lessons learned from simple stories,” she shared. “My motivation in agreeing to this was to hopefully help chronicle what it was truly like.”
Despite the hurdles, McBride remains confident and determined.
She acknowledges the challenges she faces due to her identity. “It is hard and it gets to me,” she says, but notes, “Every job I’ve ever had, I’ve received death threats.”
McBride believes the attacks on her gender identity reflect more on her detractors than on her.
Sarah McBride’s political challenges
“When people try to diminish me or impugn my dignity, it says a lot more about them than it does about me,” she states. She adheres to the belief that “hurt people hurt people.”
Yet, McBride remains undeterred. “Everyone deals with something about themselves that society tells them they should be ashamed of or that they should hide,” she says.
“The thing about so many of us who live openly and authentically is we have taken that thing that society has told us we should hide, and we’ve not only accepted it, but in many cases, we are walking forward from a place of pride in it.”
Director Chase Joynt emphasizes a central theme of the documentary: the tension between activist and electoral strategies for social change. “One of the central tensions in the film and of this political moment are the frictions between activist and electoral strategies of social change and the pressures put on politicians, in particular, to make statements and make claims and to be constantly negotiating what’s at stake in all of those moves,” Joynt said. Ultimately, Joynt hopes “State of Firsts” will spark contemplation about the limits of representation.
“We put a lot of pressure on individual people to represent all of the various issues and needs,” Joynt said. “No one person of any identity can represent all relevant views.”
For McBride, the documentary is an opportunity to convey the nuanced reality of her role. She wants people to see more than just headlines and short video clips.
“It’s so easy to forget the fullness of who people are and the complexities that every single person is navigating and often the impossible choices that people have to make,” she said. Through “State of Firsts,” viewers will get an in-depth look at Sarah McBride’s groundbreaking but challenging journey in Congress, offering lessons for future generations of leaders who may follow in her footsteps.
