Page 16 - BEQ Magazine Iss 21 rev01072022

EQUITABLE FUTURES

Gen Z Teen Talks

to a Millennial

Leader

By MARIE DILLARD

am a Generation Z teen-
ager. We are more racially
I and ethnically diverse
than any previous generation,
we are on track to be the most
well-educated generation and we
already enjoyed a level of success that many octo-
are what researchers call digital
MARIE genarians would claim was a life well-lived. McBride
DILLARD, natives. We have little or no memory of the not only was student body president at American
contributor world before smartphones. Besides that, I University, she also worked on political campaigns for
the late Delaware Attorney General and son of POTUS
think of myself as your average American
Beau Biden and former Delaware Governor Jack Mar-
teenage Black girl curious about the world kell. In 2012, McBride worked in the White House
and serious about making an impact. Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental
Affairs, where she worked on LGBTQIA+ issues during
I recently had an opportunity to interview Dela- the Obama Administration. She was also the National
ware’s 1st district state senator, Sarah McBride. She Press Secretary for the Human Rights Campaign,
is the first openly transgender state senator in the among other notable roles.
country, making her the highest-ranking transgender She has fought for the rights of not only her
elected official in American history. In July 2016, she community but has worked to be an ally to other
was a speaker at the Democratic National Conven- communities. McBride is credited with the passage
tion, becoming the first openly transgender person to of legislation banning discrimination on the basis of
address a major party convention in American history. gender identity in employment, housing, insurance
McBride took her rightful place in history with the and public accommodations in Delaware. But it’s
oath of office on January 12, 2021. But anyone who how she speaks about the broader fight for equality
knows McBride’s story knows her political courage, that really sets her apart. “My governing philosophy
service and leadership predates her holding public is rooted in the quote by Audre Lorde: that there’s
office by at least a decade. At 31 years old, she has no such thing as a single-issue cause because no one

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