Sage Blair highlighted in State of the Union as Trump presses ban and voters react — sage blair sits in gallery
President Donald Trump drew attention to sage blair during his State of the Union address, calling for an immediate ban on secret teen gender transitions and calling Democrats "crazy" after they did not stand and applaud. The remarks prompted sharply divided responses from a live panel of 29 Democrats, 30 Independents and 40 Republicans, and came as Sage and her mother attended the speech as invited guests.
Sage Blair and her mother attended the address as guests from Appomattox
The mother-daughter pair were invited to the State of the Union and sat in the gallery while the president highlighted their case. One report identifies the mother as Michele Blair, calling her and Sage Appomattox locals who were invited to the Tuesday address; another report names the mother as Michelle Blair and places both in the gallery during the speech. Vernadette Broyles, who represents Michele through the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, said the invitation "highlights the national conversation on putting parental involvement and child safety first. "
Trump urged a ban on secret teen gender transitions and pointed at Democrats
During the address the president 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" and adding, "We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately. " When members of the Democratic caucus remained seated, he pointed at Democratic senators and House members and said, "These people are crazy. I’m telling you. They’re crazy, " and became visibly incensed as Republican members applauded the remarks.
Live panel tracked partisan reactions with colored lines and numerical breakdown
A live reaction panel assembled by Maslansky & Partners displayed real-time responses as colored lines on a graph; higher values represented positive reactions and lower values indicated negative ones. The panel included 29 Democrats, 30 Independents and 40 Republicans. As the president delivered the remarks the Republican line, shown in red, climbed sharply into positive territory; Independents, shown in yellow, ticked upward; and Democrats, shown in blue, trended downward into negative territory. Republican reactions stayed elevated during the remarks while Democratic responses remained negative and independent voters held relatively steady.
Lawsuit filed in 2023 alleges Appomattox County staff socially transitioned her and concealed identity
The Blair family filed a lawsuit in 2023 alleging that Appomattox County High School staff socially transitioned Sage without parental knowledge. The lawsuit says Blair began identifying as male at school, that staff used male names and pronouns for her and allowed her to use male facilities without informing her parents. A separate description of the 2023 filing says Michele sued multiple Appomattox County Schools officials for concealing information about Sage’s gender identity and alleged bullying, and that Michele said that concealment ultimately contributed to Sage’s decision to run away.
Family alleges runaway led to kidnapping, rape and sex trafficking across state lines
The family’s lawsuit and subsequent statements say the situation escalated after Sage ran away from home. The complaint alleges she was kidnapped and raped in multiple states, and Michele has said that after Sage ran away she was kidnapped, raped and sex-trafficked across state lines. During his address the president noted that Blair was 14 when school officials sought to socially transition her "to a new gender, " a detail he used in highlighting the family’s claims.
The White House audience reaction and the presence of Sage and her mother in the gallery framed the president’s calls for a legal ban and focused attention on the lawsuit and the allegations against Appomattox County school officials while the Maslansky & Partners panel showed a clear partisan split in immediate voter response.
