Who is Sarah McBride?

Ms. McBride is a former intern in the White House, under President Obama. She now works for the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that works to protect and advance the LGBTQ community. On Thursday she spoke out about the discrimination faced by transgender people in our country, and from its people.

Risking Her Dreams

“Four years ago, I came out as transgender while serving as student body president in college. At the time I was scared. I worried my dreams and my identity were mutually exclusive.”

In her remarks, McBride urged Americans to be more accepting of people’s differences.

“Will we be a nation where there’s only one way to love, one way to look, one way to live?”

In advance of her speech, McBride said she wanted to make other transgender Americans proud to be who they are.

“I’m certainly excited to have this opportunity … I just hope I do my community proud,” she told NBC News earlier. “I really want to use this moment to reinforce and underscore that behind this debate on trans equality, there are real people who are seeking dignity and fairness throughout their lives, people who hurt when we are ridiculed and mocked and discriminated against, people who are facing violence … I want to make sure that people realize the humanity behind the conversation.”

McBride was joined onstage by Rep. Sean Maloney, D-N.Y., the chair of the congressional LGBTQ caucus and the first openly-gay person elected to Congress from the Empire State, who also urged Democrats to remember the hard-fought victory for same-sex marriage enshrined by the Supreme Court last year.

In his remarks, Maloney recounted calling his husband, Randy, after news broke of the Supreme Court’s decision on June 26, 2015.

“The news hit like a thunderclap. Many of us wept. … I called Randy, I could barely speak,” he said. “Yes, our family’s a little different, but we read bedtime stories the same. Until that day, we weren’t really the same, not according to the law.”

See the entire speech below. And let us know what you think in the comments.

Chelsea Manning was taken to a hospital near Fort Leavenworth early Tuesday and returned to the Kansas military base’s prison later in the day, Army spokesman Wayne Hall said. He said the 28-year-old transgender soldier, who is appealing her 2013 conviction and 35-year prison sentence, was being monitored.

Hall and other Pentagon officials declined to say why the Army private was hospitalized. Fort Leavenworth spokeswoman Denise Haeussler said federal privacy laws precluded her from commenting without Manning’s consent.

CNN said that it was believed that the 28-year-old had tried to kill herself.

Chelsea Manning suspected of attempting suicide. Was taken to a hospital Tuesday from Fort Leavenworth, CNN.

— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) July 6, 2016

There was no immediate independent confirmation of this. A spokesman for the US Army told The Independent he was waiting for an approved statement before being able to comment. TheWashington Post reported that the military said Manning had since been returned to her cell but provided no other details.

Leaks to media outlets about the hospitalization angered Manning’s appellate attorneys, who said they weren’t apprised of the hospitalization. Manning’s sister, Casey Major, said she also was unaware of the matter until reached Wednesday by the AP.

Manning’s lawyer, Nancy Hollander, said in a statement that she was “shocked and outraged” that an official at Fort Leavenworth provided “confidential medical information” about Manning to the media but had not shared anything with her team. She said she had been due to speak with her client at 2pm on Monday but was told she could not be connected.

“Despite the fact that they have reached out to the media, and that any other prison will connect an emergency call, the army has told her lawyers that the earliest time that they will accommodate a call between her lawyers and Chelsea is Friday morning,” she said.

“We call on the army to immediately connect Chelsea Manning to her lawyers and friends who care deeply about her well-being and are profoundly distressed by the complete lack of official communication about Chelsea’s current situation.”

Big: Political prisoner's lawyer says Army is blocking even scheduled calls from attorney. https://t.co/AJiN6YomOX

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) July 6, 2016

The base declined the AP’s request Wednesday for a telephone interview with Manning.

Manning, arrested as Bradley Manning, was convicted in military court of six Espionage Act violations and 14 other offenses for leaking more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents, plus some battlefield video. Manning, who was an intelligence analyst in Iraq at the time, later filed a transgender prisoner rights lawsuit.

Manning has appealed the criminal case, arguing that her sentence was “grossly unfair” and that her actions were those of a naive, troubled soldier who aimed to reveal the toll of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The appeal contends Manning’s disclosures harmed no one, but prosecutors have said the leaked material damaged U.S. security and identified informants who helped U.S. forces.