No one should be forced to not dream anymore.

There's no question that the political is personal.

Change always seems impossible until it's inevitable.

For my entire life, I've wrestled with my gender identity.

My name is Sarah McBride, and I am a proud transgender American.

The harassment and the bullying that students face is a learned behavior.

Living authentically isn't an act of courage as much as an act of survival.

LGBTQ people are still targeted by hate that lives in both laws and in hearts.

There is no one-size-fits-all narrative; everyone's path winds in different ways.

I now know that my dreams and my identity are only mutually exclusive if I don't try.

A life in pursuit of position or power is not a life well-lived or in service to others.

There's no question that the best way to get people to care about an issue is to humanize it.

Despite saying the letters 'LGBTQ' at the RNC, Donald Trump consistently endorsed anti-equality positions.

The Trump-Pence administration has truly become one of the most explicitly anti-LGBTQ administrations in history.

Every single day matters when it comes to building a world where every person can live their life to the fullest.

Discomfort isn't grounds for discrimination. We have a big country with a lot of different kinds of people in it.

When the boys and girls would line up separately in kindergarten, I'd find myself longing to be in the other line.

Trans issues are also environmental issues. They're also healthcare issues. They're also national security issues.

I grew up in an upper-income household, in an accepting environment, and with incredible educational opportunities.

Everyone's journey to coming out as transgender is different. For me, I've know that I'm transgender my entire life.

I'm so proud to stand with the LGBT Caucus and speak out in support of Hillary Clinton, because we know she stands with us.

We have to open hearts and change minds while at the same time pushing for laws that protect LGBTQ people from discrimination.

Trans justice calls on us to combat the blend of prejudices that demean the lives and diminish the autonomy of another person.

I think that someday we will live in a world where transgender people will be viewed as the multidimensional people that we are.

When I came out, I wondered whether I had a future not just professionally but romantically. Would I be able to find someone who loved me?

When a person finally has the courage to say, 'This is who I am,' and society is not there to welcome them with open arms, it is so tragic.

Transgender people, especially transgender women of color, face pervasive discrimination throughout life, including by those sworn to protect us.

It's OK to be talking to one another about what it means to be transgender. We don't have to shield everyone from the existence of people like me.

We certainly hope that Secretary DeVos will work on behalf of every student and ensure equal access to a safe and quality education for LGBTQ young people.

It was easier to forget, or be dismissive about, transgender issues when there weren't transgender staffers or interns walking the halls of the White House.

Access to public facilities like bathrooms is important for transgender people. But the fight for transgender rights does not begin and end at the bathroom door.

Transgender people frequently face bias in court and are assigned unsupportive public defenders, factors which lead to more extreme sentences and longer incarcerations.

Efforts to bar transgender people from restrooms are nothing more than an attempt to codify discrimination before our country advances any further on transgender equality.

Will we be a nation where there's only one way to love, one way to look, one way to live? Or will we be a nation where everyone has the freedom to live openly and equally?

My gratitude is great to my family and friends for accepting me as the person who they now know me to be and for letting me show them the possibilities of a life well lived.

While I don't think President Trump is going to round LGBTQ people up, I do think the concerns from the community about his vision are not only understandable but warranted.

Andy and I decided to get married in August of 2014, and just 4 days after we married, he passed away. For me, I carry my relationship with Andy with me in my LGBT advocacy work.

Since taking office, Donald Trump and Mike Pence have governed the exact same way they campaigned, which is with bigotry and with bluster, and that includes toward the LGBTQ community.

When the work you're doing every single day is so directly about who you are as an individual and who you are as a person, it can be both exhausting and empowering in different moments.

Like all women, my path to womanhood is unique. No two paths are the same. Each of us travel with different privileges, challenges, and perspectives - some limiting, others illuminating.

While Donald Trump claimed during the campaign that he would be a 'friend' to the LGBTQ community, we knew it was likely one more 'alternative fact' spouted by the President and his team.

I would take issue with the assertion that President Trump has reached out to a diverse group for his cabinet secretaries. In fact, his cabinet is one of the least diverse in modern history.

This is how systems of oppression work: The violence, discrimination, and stigma I face as a woman compounds the violence, discrimination, and stigma I face as a trans person, and vice versa.

During my sophomore year at American University, I was elected president of the student body. At the same time, I was struggling with my identity and whether or not to come out as transgender.

Instead of moving backward, we should expand opportunity and protections by repealing hateful laws and passing comprehensive LGBT nondiscrimination laws at the local, state, and federal level.

Being an American is an action; it's an ideal to strive for. It's being part of this constantly perfecting union that, with each generation, expands our scope and human understanding of 'We the people.'

Put simply, barring transgender people from restrooms consistent with their gender identity doesn't help anyone, and continuing to allow transgender people to access those restrooms doesn't hurt anyone.

Trump's campaign is not a collection of ignorant statements. It is a candidacy of hate and fear that poses serious risks to people of color, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, and LGBTQ people.

For me, having a gender identity that was different from my sex assigned at birth and that wasn't seen by society felt like a constant feeling of homesickness - that unwavering ache in the pit of my stomach.

We can celebrate the speed at which LGBT equality has progressed, but we also have to acknowledge that it wasn't fast enough, because too many people didn't get to experience it. We can never be too impatient.

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