Sarah McBride didn’t give them the fight they wanted. She won anyway

This story originally appeared on The Advocate. On December 11, 2024, Sarah McBride needed a moment. We were at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., for a photo shoot for The Advocate’s January cover story. A few weeks earlier, during new member orientation following her historic election, we had sat down to talk about the work ahead. She was preparing to become the first out transgender member of Congress. Between that conversation and the photo shoot, Republicans had launched a campaign to keep her out of women’s bathrooms. Photographer Mike Nelson had just set up to shoot at a window in the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building, with the Capitol dome visible in the distance. The shoot stopped. McBride stepped away briefly before returning. What I didn’t know then was that she was having a panic attack. “This place that I had worshiped for so long, revered for so long was the place that was causing me a panic attack,” she says.

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