Feature image of Sarah McBride by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Last Wednesday, as the reality of a second Trump term settled into our guts, queer people were understandably eager for good news. One such story oft-repeated was Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride becoming the first trans person in Congress. During an election cycle where trans people were one of the primary scapegoats for Republicans — and post-election for Democrats — there’s a comfort in knowing actual trans individuals are still breaking barriers and fighting for our rights.

But McBride is more than her trans identity. It’s possible to celebrate this milestone while not stopping at that celebration. As an elected official, McBride deserves a thorough examination of her beliefs and values. She is more than her first. She also, notably, believes healthcare is a human right. She advocates for universal coverage with guaranteed paid sick leave, paid medical leave, and paid family leave. Her healthcare advocacy also includes an important focus on reproductive care.

She lists the environment, criminal justice reform, gun safety, and worker’s rights among her other priorities — with various degrees of specificity and commitment. While her alignment with the Biden administration likely played well for her campaign in Delaware, it causes me concern. Will McBride be an exciting young voice in Congress or just another mainstream Democrat who lacks the urgency to meet the moment?

There is one issue on which McBride is eager to assert her commitment. That issue is Israel.

McBride is certainly not unique among Democrats — her beloved Biden administration has unequivocally aided Israel in its increased violence against Palestinians over the past 400+ days — but her beliefs are even more Zionist than the congresswoman she’s replacing. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester called for a ceasefire in March, saying, “The ongoing death and destruction in Gaza shocks the conscience and is simply untenable. As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens, we must move swiftly to end the violence and this war.”

Meanwhile, in April, McBride tweeted regarding an attack from Iran, “…President Biden is right to reinforce our collective commitment to support Israel’s self-defense, which, today, has resulted in nearly every missile being intercepted and countless lives saved.”

On October 7 of this year, she tweeted, “…We cannot waver in our efforts to bring the hostages home, including 7 American hostages that remain in brutal captivity by Hamas. May the memories of the victims be a blessing for all who knew them and a reminder of the urgent need for lasting peace and security.”

In an interview with Jewish Insider from August 2023, McBride “emphasized that federal law already contains protections to ensure that U.S. aid ‘shouldn’t be used in ways that contradict our values,’ and voiced ‘serious concerns about any policy that would single out Israel and treat it differently than other countries that we support through foreign aid’ or hold it “to a different standard.”’

She went on to espouse support for the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding for U.S. military aid to Israel, a document that included an $8 billion dollar increase of aid.

During the Delaware debate for Congress, McBride said, “There is a global struggle between authoritarianism and democracy that’s happening right now.” This was in reference to Ukraine and included the U.S., but seemingly did not include Netanyahu’s leadership in Israel. Instead, she asserted her support of Israel with only vague qualifiers about wanting peace.

“Well first off, I, like so many Americans, have been heartbroken by what we are seeing unfold in the Middle East over the last year and a half, in particular. The conflict as you mentioned is complex and is not new but the last year of the conflict has been particularly tragic from the October 7 terrorist attack that resulted in the murder of 1,200 innocent civilian Israelis — Jews and Muslims alike — to the unfolding hostage crisis to the war in Gaza to, as you mentioned, the war in the north against Hezbollah. And Israel without question has a right to defend itself against a terrorist attack like we saw on October 7, to protect its citizens — and, in fact, it has a responsibility to protect its citizens — but it also has a responsibility to do that in the context of all applicable laws.

I am desperate to not only see an end to the violence in its current form but also a lasting and durable peace which is why I’ve been so supportive of the U.S. led efforts to secure a ceasefire that stops the violence, releases the hostages, and creates a bridge to a more durable peace. Because let’s be clear any ceasefire is inherently temporary until and unless we have a permanent holistic solution. As a member of Congress, I would continue to speak out not just in support of the U.S./Israel relationship but for a two state solution that guarantees a safe and secure Israel and a safe and secure Palestine where Palestinians have both safety security, economic security, and the right to self-determination.”

It’s a testament to the activism of so many over the last year (and decades) that McBride, like the Biden administration, now feels the need to even say that last part. But when the moderator followed up to ask what this looked like in terms of actual funding, McBride did not waiver.

“So I absolutely think, now more than ever, the U.S. has to stand with its allies, and particularly its democratic allies, not just in the Middle East, but around the world. I believe right now we’re at an inflection point, a critical point, with the conflict in the Middle East where you have not only an emboldened Iran but emboldened proxies that are being funded by Iran that are inflicting harm on innocent civilians… Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. And I think if the United States were to turn its back, in this moment, on its allies, my concern among many, my main concern is it would be an open invitation for Iran to escalate its attacks on not only Israel but other U.S. allies in the region.”

With the death toll in Palestine since October 7, 2023 now over 40,000, this emphasis on Israeli safety, empty platitudes about peace, and the pivot to fear-mongering about Iran, is morally repugnant. There has never been an ethical justification for Zionism, but it’s especially blatant now, when many of McBride’s colleagues are being pushed beyond these Zionist talking points toward meaningful change in the U.S.’s unequivocal support of Israeli violence and genocide of Palestinians.

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Sarah McBride’s memoir, Tomorrow Will Be Different, was released about a year after I came out and began transitioning. I read the book and was moved by her story — her lifelong commitment to public service, her t4t marriage with her husband who died from cancer. I also understood, even then, that McBride’s politics would be far more aligned with the mainstream Democratic Party than my own. But there’s a difference between being a pragmatist, a politician, and being an active voice encouraging one of the party’s greatest ongoing sins.

I do not expect McBride to be the trans woman Congressperson of my dreams, because the federal government is so far from any dream I might have for our world. But there’s a line and, for me, she has crossed it.

Even if Sarah McBride accomplishes other positive changes in Congress, even if her presence as a trans woman counteracts the rising transphobia in our country and her party, this will be tainted by her stance on Israel and the violence against Palestinians.

I understand wanting a piece of good news after last week. But as long as McBride remains steadfast in her Zionism, I’ll be looking elsewhere.