Sage Blair highlighted as voters react when Trump calls Democrats 'crazy'
President Donald Trump invoked sage blair and her family during his State of the Union address, pressing for a ban on socially transitioning minors without parental consent and prompting sharply divided reactions from a live voter panel and applause from Republicans in the chamber.
Maslansky & Partners panel mapped party splits in real time
The live reaction panel assembled by Maslansky & Partners included 29 Democrats, 30 Independents and 40 Republicans. Their responses were displayed as colored lines on a graph, with higher values representing positive reactions and lower values indicating negative reactions. As the president spoke, the Republican line, shown in red, climbed sharply into positive territory; Independents, in yellow, ticked upward; and Democrats, in blue, trended downward into negative territory.
Trump's remarks on school transitions drew applause and an outburst
Trump demanded a ban on socially transitioning minors without parental consent, saying, "But surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will. Who would believe that?… We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately. " The comments drew applause from Republicans in the chamber. The president became incensed when he saw Democratic senators and House members who remained seated, pointing and saying, "These people are crazy. I’m telling you. They’re crazy. " Republican reactions stayed elevated during the remarks, Democratic responses remained negative, and independent voters held relatively steady.
Sage Blair's case: a 2023 lawsuit and school practices named in court papers
Trump called on Sage Blair, described as a Virginia teenager whose family filed a 2023 lawsuit alleging that Appomattox County High School staff socially transitioned her without parental knowledge. The lawsuit says Blair began identifying as male at school; staff used male names and pronouns and allowed her to use male facilities without informing her parents. The family alleges the situation escalated after Blair ran away from home and later became a victim of sex trafficking, with the lawsuit alleging she was kidnapped and raped in multiple states. Highlighting the case during his address, Trump said Blair was 14 when school officials sought to socially transition her "to a new gender, "
Invitation to the State of the Union and local legal action
Appomattox locals Michele and Sage Blair were invited to attend Tuesday’s State of the Union speech in Washington, D. C. Pool photographs show Sage Blair and her mother, Michelle Blair, standing in the gallery after the president highlighted the case. In 2023, Michele Blair filed a lawsuit against multiple Appomattox County Schools officials, alleging they concealed information about Sage’s gender identity and bullying and saying that concealment contributed to Sage’s decision to run away. Michele has said that after Sage ran away, she was kidnapped, raped and sex-trafficked across state lines.
Advocacy and the national conversation on parental involvement
Vernadette Broyles, who represents Michele through the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, said in a press release that the invitation to the State of the Union address "highlights the national conversation on putting parental involvement and child safety first. " The family’s lawsuit and the public invitation placed the Blair case at the center of the debate that produced sharply different reactions among Republicans, Democrats and Independents on the Maslansky & Partners panel.
In the gallery during the address, sage blair stood with her mother while the president recounted the family’s account and pushed for immediate policy action on school handling of gender identity for minors.
