At a moment when the personal is inseparable from the political, State of Firsts arrives as both testimony and intervention. The 93-minute documentary, which premieres Saturday at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, follows Delaware Democratic Congresswoman Sarah McBride’s unprecedented run to become the first out transgender member of the U.S. House — and the tidal wave of backlash that followed.
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What director Chase Joynt delivers is not a triumphalist political chronicle. It is a meditation on dignity, restraint, and the costs of visibility in an age of cruelty. In McBride’s own words, “What we need more of in our politics is grace. And that doesn’t just mean grace across the political divide. It also means grace within our own community, grace within our own movement, grace for those who are fearful in the shadows, and yes, those who are trying to navigate a very difficult world out in public.”
Related: As the first out trans person in Congress, Sarah McBride is ready to fight for us
Filmed with immersive access as McBride navigated the 2024 campaign and took office under a renewed Trump administration, State of Firsts reveals the contradictions and compromises of power, particularly for a lawmaker who is both an avatar for progress and a magnet for attack.
Sarah McBride in State of FirstsMELISSA LANGER/XTR
The film opens with a stark declaration: “Thirty years ago, they ignored us. Twenty years ago, they laughed at us. Now they’re fighting us. And soon, we will win.”
But the path between “fighting” and “winning” is anything but unbent. As McBride reflected in an interview with The Advocate, “Progress is not always linear. It’s often two steps forward and one step back. … The sense of inevitability is the exception in our history. At one point, everything we take for granted today felt impossible.”
Her presence in Congress has not dulled the far right’s appetite for spectacle. In one sequence, the film captures her being misgendered on the House floor. She doesn’t engage. “These folks aren’t passionate about bathroom policy,” McBride said. “They are pursuing attention … and when attention is the incentive, I have control over how much attention they get.” Her late husband, Andy, is remembered with unguarded tenderness.
Related: 'Have you no decency?': Republican calls Sarah McBride 'mister,' but Democrats wouldn't have it
Drawing an analogy to reality television, she noted, “You get a little bit of airtime on a Bravo reality TV show if you throw wine in someone’s face. But when they respond … it creates a season-long story arc. That takes two to tango — and I’m not a good dancer.”
It’s a philosophy that speaks to political discipline and emotional self-preservation. “I’m protecting my own mental health too,” she said. “More attention is not enjoyable for me. … It’s a little bit of pain in the short term, but it’s a lot less pain in the medium and long term if I keep my cool.”
Sarah McBride in State of FirstsMELISSA LANGER/XTR
Even so, State of Firsts does not cast McBride as a remote symbol. Her brother teases her edits. Her nieces and nephews crawl into her arms. Her parents beam. Her late husband, Andy, who died of cancer shortly after their wedding, is remembered with unguarded tenderness. It is not a film about “firsts” for their own sake — it’s about the toll and triumph of being real in a role never built for you.
“This documentary is for anyone who fears that their dreams and who they are are mutually exclusive,” McBride said. “We don’t do this because we’re fearless. We do it in spite of the fear, in spite of the anxiety. … And that means everyone can do it.”
Related: Sarah McBride skewers GOP’s ‘utter shitshow’ at EMILYs List gala honoring 40 years of electing women
For viewers expecting a linear arc of victory, the film ends on an unresolved note. McBride walks into her future carrying history on her shoulders and harassment in her rearview. And yet, she insists, hope is a rational response.
“You cannot tell me that the reasons for hopelessness now are greater than the reasons for hopelessness for an LGBTQ person in the 1950s,” she said. “When you step back from the recency of marriage [equality] and that sort of ending cultural wave of momentum … you realize how far we’ve come.”
The Advocate’s Christopher Wiggins will moderate a panel discussion following a screening of State of Firsts at the DC/DOX film festival in Washington, D.C., on June 15.
Sarah McBride in State of FirstsMELISSA LANGER/XTR
Sarah McBride in State of FirstsMELISSA LANGER/XTR
Sarah McBride in State of FirstsMELISSA LANGER/XTR
