State Sen. Sarah McBride Defends Trans Youth, Grills Lawmaker Trying To Pass Anti-Trans Sports Bill [Video]

Senator Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender state senator in American history, delivered moving remarks against DE SB227, an anti-trans sports ban when it came in front of the committee which her chairs. DE SB227, which constitutes nothing less than a vicious and unnecessary attack by her colleagues on the rights of Delaware’s transgender youth and their ability to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity, would undermine years of progress that have been made towards LGBTQ+ equality in Delaware and deny transgender youth the social, physical and emotional benefits of sports.

Transcript provided by YouTube (unedited)

0:00
recognize that we have differences of
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opinion between members in the general
0:04
assembly across the aisle that we’re not
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going to agree on everything and that we
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can have reasoned
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civil conversations when we disagree
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and i think over the course of my time
0:15
in the general assembly i have
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demonstrated my willingness to work
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across the aisle to work collaboratively
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respectfully to compromise
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um and i
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didn’t run for this office to talk about
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transgender identities i ran because i
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want to pass policies that empower and
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uplift policies to expand access to
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health care and to address the mental
0:33
health crisis facing our students
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but when legislation comes before me
0:40
that goes after young people that goes a
0:43
step too far
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and
0:46
senator richardson i’m
0:48
glad to hear
0:50
that
0:51
you believe in this country that
0:52
everyone has the
0:54
right to be who they want to be
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and i hope next year you will
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uh join us in in supporting rather than
1:01
opposing our lgbtq pride month
1:03
resolution uh recognizing our community
1:06
and so i’m glad to hear you say that
1:09
um but i do have a couple of questions
1:11
you know i am absolutely committed as
1:13
are my colleagues to
1:15
supporting women’s sports and when i
1:18
initially saw this legislation come in
1:20
my inbox i hope that there were
1:22
opportunities for all of us to work
1:23
together to address the real issues
1:25
facing women in sports
1:27
and so i’m curious senator does
1:30
your legislation increase funding for
1:32
women and girls sports in our k-12
1:35
schools i know that that’s one of the
1:36
most critical issues facing women’s
1:38
sports today in delaware and across the
1:40
country
1:43
thank you madam chair it does not
1:47
okay
1:48
increase the funding
1:50
it
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talks about the issue of fairness and
1:54
women’s sports exactly
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and and it
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i’m correct also that it doesn’t require
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title ix data collection or doesn’t
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formalize any positions to infor
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enforcement of title ix in delaware
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correct well there is an enforcement for
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tight online i mean but it doesn’t it
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doesn’t create any positions to enforce
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title ix correct uh it doesn’t but
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under title nine schools are legally
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required to respond in remedy hospital
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educational environments and failure to
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do so as a violation that means the
2:26
school could risk solutions of losing
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its federal funds right right right so
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there’s there’s not an increase in the
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uh institutional support for the
2:34
enforcement 109 so my understanding is
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that this legislation is
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um uh
2:41
the motive the state of stated motive
2:43
behind this legislation is to address a
2:44
perceived competitive advantage within
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women and girls sports you know one of
2:48
the most significant competitive
2:50
disparities that exists is based on
2:52
family wealth and those who can afford
2:54
private coaching and those who can’t and
2:57
so i’m curious this legislation does not
3:00
forbid private coaching correct
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this legislation is aimed at fairness in
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women in sports it’s to protect women’s
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sports and to protect women against
3:11
injuries and protect them from losing
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opportunities for scholarships okay so
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to to to to that comment and to some of
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the comments that were made before my
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understanding is that y’all are
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particularly concerned with a perceived
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biological or physiological advantage
3:26
some students may have
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so i’m correct that this legislation
3:30
does not forbid competition between
3:32
taller and shorter girls in basketball
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correct
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yeah it’s base it’s it’s based on your
3:40
biological sex at birth right
3:44
and it doesn’t forbid competition
3:45
between girls of different muscle mass
3:47
is that correct but it does it would uh
3:50
you know the same way that it does
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uh
3:56
address biological
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differences
3:59
it you know our laws
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currently right now we don’t allow 25
4:03
year olds to compete against 10 year
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olds
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you know so there are differences in
4:08
ages and differences in
4:10
height and
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weight and so forth but yeah girl sure
4:15
i’m talking about i’m i’m talking about
4:18
15 year old
4:19
kids
4:20
this legislation doesn’t forbid
4:22
competition for instance between girls
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with different cardiovascular capacities
4:26
correct absolutely not no
4:30
okay so the only difference between
4:33
students of the same gender identity
4:35
that this legislation singles out for
4:37
exclusion
4:38
is based on a student’s sex marker on
4:41
their original birth certificate which
4:43
specifically singles out those who are
4:45
transgender
4:47
no it’s
4:49
it singles out biological males and
4:52
separates them out of the equation as
4:55
far as who’s allowed to participate in
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female sports right
5:00
cisgender students
5:02
cisgender students can participate on
5:04
the teams of their gender identity
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because their gender marker matches
5:08
their sex their gender identity matches
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their sex assigned at birth transgender
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students can’t participate on school
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sports consistent with their gender
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identity because
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their
5:16
[Music]
5:18
marker on their birth certificate does
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not match their gender identity right
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and the courts have consistently held
5:25
that when you make this type of
5:26
determination and cisgender students can
5:29
participate consistent with their gender
5:31
identity
5:32
and transgender students cannot
5:33
participate with their gender identity
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even if the legislation doesn’t say the
5:36
word transgender that that is
5:38
discrimination based on transgender
5:40
status and under the bostock u.s supreme
5:42
court decision therefore discrimination
5:44
based on sex
5:46
so am i correct am i correct that the
5:50
students who won’t be able to
5:51
participate on the team of their gender
5:53
identity are transgender students
5:56
can i bring uh tom newberger in to
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answer the question about the league the
6:01
the term you use the positive uh
6:03
decision
6:04
that’s that that’s not the question that
6:07
i’m asking i was correcting the record
6:08
and what you just said but my question
6:10
is
6:11
that this legislation would result
6:14
in
6:15
students the only students who cannot
6:17
participate on the team of their gender
6:19
identity being transgender students
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it would be any biological
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in some cases like i mentioned in
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massachusetts there’s there’s biological
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males that are competing on women’s
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sports so what this would do is this
6:35
would allow the delaware you know
6:37
interscholastic associate athletic
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association
6:41
to have some guidelines as far as uh
6:44
what uh what what would be allowed so
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the red clay school district recently
6:49
made made a decision other school
6:51
districts are going to make other
6:52
decisions i think the general assembly
6:54
has an obligation
6:56
to uh to to set the standard so so so
7:00
senator you just mentioned a couple of
7:02
quote biological males in other states
7:03
to be clear you’re talking about
7:04
transgender girls
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unless
7:08
there is an example of a student
7:11
lying about their gender in order to
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play for another team and other than the
7:14
fictional movie with amanda bynes she’s
7:16
the man i’m not aware aware of any
7:18
examples of a student lying about their
7:21
gender to participate in another sport
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so we’re talking about transgender
7:25
students so let me get this straight let
7:26
me just get this straight you can have
7:28
two students one who is a transgender
7:31
girl
7:32
and the other who is a non-transgender
7:34
girl the term a cisgender both can have
7:37
identical athletic capacity
7:39
and the only reason why the trans girl
7:41
can’t play on the girls team with her
7:43
classmates is because she’s transgender
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the
7:47
reason that
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the law is being brought forward senate
7:51
bill 227 is being brought forth is for
7:54
fairness in women’s sports and i gave
7:56
example after example
7:59
of why the male
8:01
uh
8:02
biological males have an advantage over
8:04
biological women
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so you you believe that i have a
8:08
biological advantage over elena deladon
8:11
in basketball
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i believe that there are ex many
8:15
examples and i could have read several
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other examples especially you know the
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leah thomas example where he
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dominated in a female sports
8:27
uh swimming
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where in when he was at competing
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against the men he was only
8:34
467th in the state of uh
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you know in the ncaa
8:40
yeah so so first off let me just let me
8:42
just
8:43
let me just let me just make a quick
8:45
point on this that you properly gender
8:48
me senator i would appreciate as the
8:50
chair of this committee if you properly
8:51
gender leah thomas and use her pronouns
8:54
she and her um
8:56
so i want to move on to a next series of
8:59
questions so you mentioned in your
9:00
opening statement that this legislation
9:03
would allow for um
9:05
an individual to file suit against a
9:09
school
9:10
or a district uh if they allow a
9:12
transgender student to participate on a
9:14
team consistent with their gender
9:15
identity that’s correct uh what actually
9:18
the bill does is if they are deprived of
9:21
opportunity
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so it states indirect harm so
9:24
theoretically if a another school loses
9:28
a competition loses a game to a school
9:30
that allows a trans student to
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participate on their team that that
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could be a direct or even indirect harm
9:36
under this legislation and that school
9:39
if they
9:41
perceived
9:43
just on an assumption because they’re
9:45
policing people’s gender and they might
9:46
look at a another girl on the other team
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and say well she looks like a man
9:50
um they could then sue that school that
9:54
they’re playing
9:55
and put that child’s gender on trial
10:00
is that correct
10:02
you know
10:03
in my district del mar
10:05
hockey team has won i think
10:08
uh championship after championship after
10:10
championship in the state of delaware
10:13
i would hate to see them but at a
10:15
disadvantage because their male players
10:18
on the other team so so again if they
10:22
thought perhaps that another that a
10:24
student on another team was transgender
10:25
they might not know
10:27
they could go and then they could sue
10:29
that school and put that child’s gender
10:31
on trial
10:33
i didn’t know about that i think what it
10:35
would
10:36
actually would uh
10:39
the concern would really be that
10:42
a student
10:43
likes say a student on the del mar team
10:47
i was deprived of pl being able to play
10:49
on the team
10:51
uh the championship team that which
10:53
they’ve had year after year after year
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uh then they would have a grievance but
10:58
as far as one team playing against the
11:00
other team i think that would be up to
11:02
the the schools to decide in the dia to
11:06
intervene and say what’s fair and what’s
11:08
not fair the whole well
11:10
you create you create you create a cause
11:13
of action based on indirect harm but i’d
11:15
like to actually move on
11:17
are you aware that already two federal
11:21
district judges one nominated by former
11:23
president trump have prevented similar
11:26
laws into other states from being
11:27
implemented because they likely violate
11:30
title ix the very law you claim you’re
11:31
trying to protect and the equal
11:32
protection clause of the us constitution
11:34
there’s all kinds of court cases out
11:37
there you can sue anybody for any reason
11:40
are you gonna let me
11:43
but you’re not answering the question
11:44
i’m asking if you’re aware that there
11:45
are two decisions by federal district
11:48
judges preventing these same laws from
11:51
being implemented in other states
11:52
because they likely violate title ix and
11:54
the equal protection clause of the us
11:55
constitution
11:56
a lot of material on on this particular
11:59
issue yes there are court cases out
12:01
there and i know that on the first date
12:04
first full day that president biden was
12:05
in office that he signed
12:08
an executive order
12:10
to allow transgender students to
12:12
participate
12:14
in sports now i have a problem with
12:16
executive awarders i think the exec the
12:19
executive
12:20
the president of the united states is
12:22
supposed to enforce the laws that are
12:23
already in votes and not create laws
12:25
through executive order okay so so those
12:28
those decisions don’t rest on president
12:31
biden’s executive order and thank god
12:33
that he
12:34
is our president and is looking out for
12:35
these vulnerable youth
12:37
they actually rely on
12:39
both other federal district court and
12:40
u.s supreme court precedent but moving
12:43
on you know when you introduce a bill
12:45
that’s about a particular community and
12:47
impacts a particular community i think
12:49
it’s important that we demonstrate that
12:51
the sponsor is
12:52
fully aware and understands the
12:54
community that’s impacted so i’m curious
12:56
senator if you could share your
12:58
understanding of what it means to be
12:59
transgender with me
13:02
i don’t see what that really has to do
13:04
with
13:05
i just i want to make sure that you
13:07
understand the community that’s being
13:08
impacted here
13:12
i really don’t understand the reason for
13:13
that question all right well so i’ll ask
13:15
another question do you agree with the
13:17
american medical association when they
13:19
say trans and non-binary gender
13:21
identities are normal variations of
13:23
human identity and expression
13:25
i’ve never given that much salt okay
13:29
do you believe the public policy of
13:31
delaware should be to embrace and affirm
13:33
transgender people’s gender identities
13:37
i believe that
13:38
i i believe in the liver that live
13:40
policy
13:42
i believe it can be anything that you
13:44
want to be as long as it doesn’t
13:45
interfere with someone else’s rights and
13:47
i think in this case it’s interfering
13:49
with the rights of of
13:51
young athletes female athletes to
13:54
um
13:55
hate to use the term but playing a level
13:58
level playing field
14:00
so
14:01
you know in talking about the harm
14:03
my final questions and then i want to
14:05
make a few comments
14:07
um according to the centers for disease
14:10
control 27 of transgender students feel
14:12
unsafe at school and 35 percent of
14:15
transgender students have attempted
14:16
suicide
14:17
according to the 2018 school climate
14:19
survey lgbtq students who faced
14:22
discrimination and discriminatory
14:23
policies at school including in school
14:25
programs
14:26
were three times as likely to miss
14:28
school in the past month had lower gpas
14:31
had lower self-esteem and higher levels
14:33
of depression
14:34
the american medical association has
14:36
stated that barring transgender girls
14:37
from participating in school sponsored
14:39
sports consistent with their gender
14:41
identity can have the effect of
14:42
increasing negative mental health
14:44
outcomes substance use and suicide for
14:46
trans kids
14:48
and so senator i’m curious after hearing
14:50
the negative academic and health
14:51
outcomes that this legislation can have
14:53
on trans kids
14:55
young people who are like me just a
14:57
couple of years ago
14:59
do you still wish to proceed with this
15:01
legislation i still wish to proceed with
15:03
the legislation because i think the
15:05
rights as one individual cannot
15:07
interfere with the rights of another
15:09
individual all right well
15:11
thank you senator
15:12
i just want to make a couple of comments
15:14
before i i
15:16
defer to my colleagues on this committee
15:19
you know ultimately
15:21
i believe that this is a cruel salute
15:23
solution in search of a problem
15:26
you expressed a couple of examples
15:28
before none of which were in the state
15:30
of delaware
15:31
and in just the last two days alone two
15:34
republican governors have vetoed similar
15:37
legislation in their states
15:38
demonstrating just how unnecessary and
15:41
hurtful this law is
15:43
on monday indiana’s republican governor
15:45
vetoed similar anti-trans legislations
15:48
stating
15:49
let me just make sure i get the quote
15:50
right the presumption of the policy laid
15:52
out in this law is that there is an
15:54
existing problem in k-12 sports that
15:56
requires further state government
15:58
intervention
15:59
after thorough review i find no evidence
16:02
to support the claim
16:04
the preoccupation
16:06
with trans kids bodies reduces trans
16:08
people to abstract concepts
16:11
it makes it easy to forget that we’re
16:12
talking about real people
16:15
real young people
16:17
being a trans kid in a world that so
16:20
often rejects who you are
16:23
is already hard enough
16:25
and i don’t understand why we would pass
16:27
a law that makes their lives even harder
16:30
look i know it can be difficult to
16:32
understand what it feels like to be
16:34
someone like me
16:36
but
16:37
imagine fearing your entire childhood
16:40
that if people only knew who you are
16:44
you could lose your family
16:46
your friends
16:47
your safety and your community
16:50
imagine finally having the courage to
16:52
address that unwavering homesickness in
16:55
your soul only then face bullying and
16:58
harassment and mockery
17:00
and then imagine that a senator has
17:02
introduced a bill that says you can’t
17:04
even play with your friends
17:07
trans kids just want to be kids
17:12
and trans kids just want to be kids and
17:14
yes that means playing sports with their
17:17
peers
17:18
this bill in no way
17:21
improves sports
17:23
but it does send a message that trans
17:25
people are not who we are
17:28
it singles out an already vulnerable
17:30
group of kids kids who already face
17:32
bullying and harassment and violence
17:35
and it puts a target on their backs
17:38
it sanctions discriminatory treatment
17:40
toward kids for no other reason than
17:42
they are trans
17:44
when you categorically exclude trans
17:46
students from extracurricular programs
17:48
consistent with their gender identities
17:50
you are categorically excluding an
17:51
entire group of kids from educational
17:53
programs that teach teamwork and
17:55
persistence and mutual support
17:58
and for those who who state their
18:00
support for trans people in other
18:02
contexts
18:04
this law communicates that our
18:05
acceptance
18:07
our place in society is conditional
18:10
it says
18:11
we’ll tolerate you as your gender so
18:14
long as you know your place so long as
18:16
you don’t pursue your dreams and your
18:17
passions so long as you don’t succeed in
18:19
other areas of life so long as you don’t
18:22
even try
18:23
and i want to be clear this legislation
18:26
is part of a national strategy
18:29
that is seeking to ban trans kids from
18:31
affirming health care ban certain books
18:33
forbid discussions and to rip trans kids
18:35
away from supportive parents
18:38
policies that try to delay and delay and
18:40
delay trans kids from coming out and
18:44
living authentically
18:45
and then with legislation like this if
18:47
trans kids finally dare to come out
18:50
the law says sorry too late
18:52
you’re too masculine you’re too this
18:54
you’re too that you’re not enough of a
18:56
girl and you can’t play with your
18:57
friends
18:58
all the while ignoring the existence of
19:01
trans boys non-binary kids intersex
19:03
youth because the reality of their lives
19:06
becomes inconvenient to the premise of
19:07
this legislation
19:10
this strategy harms real kids
19:13
the collection
19:15
of these bills nationally including this
19:17
legislation today seeks to strip away
19:20
any layer of support that a trans kid
19:23
may have
19:24
parents doctors therapists teachers in
19:27
this case coaches
19:29
and teammates
19:30
leaving trans kids isolated
19:34
and the outcome of that strategy
19:37
it’s to make life so difficult for trans
19:39
kids
19:40
to make them feel so alone
19:43
that some never grow up to be adults
19:47
just yesterday when the utah republican
19:49
governor vetoed a similar bill in his
19:51
state
19:52
he stated in his veto message
19:55
rarely has so much fear and anger been
19:57
directed at so few
19:59
i don’t understand what they referring
20:02
to trans youth are going through or why
20:04
they feel the way they do but i want
20:06
them to live
20:08
and all the research shows that even a
20:10
little acceptance and connection can
20:12
reduce suicidality significantly
20:15
i too
20:16
want trans kids to live
20:19
and so
20:20
i want to say
20:22
as a senator
20:24
as the chair of this committee and as a
20:26
trans person to the trans young people
20:27
and their families who are watching
20:29
today
20:30
who are listening to this conversation
20:32
who will listen to public comment
20:36
your government sees you
20:38
and for the first time ever really
20:41
understands you
20:43
you are loved and you are worthy
20:46
you are part of the vibrant diversity
20:48
that makes this state great
20:51
this general assembly will not let
20:53
anyone roll back the clock on our
20:54
progress progress that we take pride in
20:58
trans people in delaware
21:00
are here to stay

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The post State Sen. Sarah McBride Defends Trans Youth, Grills Lawmaker Trying To Pass Anti-Trans Sports Bill [Video] appeared first on The Good Men Project.