Sage Blair’s Story Centered in State of the Union as Democrats Stayed Seated
During a lengthy and lie-drenched State of the Union speech, President Donald Trump invoked the story of Virginia teen sage blair and called for sweeping bans on the public existence of trans children, prompting Democrats to refuse to stand while Republican members rose in a standing ovation.
Trump’s remarks and the moment on the floor
Near the start of the address, Trump pointed at Democratic members of Congress and exclaimed, “These people are crazy! I’m telling ya — they’re crazy. ” He then urged action: “We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately. ” The speech used the family’s appearance to press for prohibitions that reached beyond medical care to social transition at school.
Sage Blair as the centerpiece
On Tuesday, the president’s vehicle for attacking trans kids was the story of Virginia teen Sage Blair, identified in the speech as a student at Liberty University, whose mother, Michele, is suing the Appomattox County School Board. Both Sage and Michele attended the State of the Union as the president’s special guests.
What Michele Blair has alleged and the legal case
In 2023 Michele filed a lawsuit against multiple Appomattox County Schools officials, accusing members of the school district of failing to disclose to the family that Sage was identifying as male; Michele claims this contributed to the teen running away and subsequently facing sexual abuse. Michele said that after Sage ran away, she was kidnapped, raped and sex-trafficked across state lines. 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. ”
Policy push and the broader lineup of bans
The speech framed a proposed Virginia legislative push that would force schools to notify parents if a student identifies with a gender other than their sex assigned at birth and would require parental consent for a student to use a new name or pronoun in school. The argument in the address described such a law as aimed at parental rights; critics in the piece argued that such a law would mandate forced outing and would put thousands of trans kids at risk.
Context of existing restrictions and political reaction
The “it” the president called to ban was described as including more than gender-affirming health care; gender-affirming health care for trans youth is already banned or restricted in at least 27 states. The speech included the line, “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, ” followed in the text by the claim that the president’s administration has a standing policy of ripping children from their parents’ arms. Republican members of Congress, characterized in the piece as supporters of industrial-scale family separations, gave a standing ovation.
Political framing and what commentators urged
Commentary in the piece argued that, with midterm elections approaching, Trump will inevitably escalate these attacks on trans kids and urged that Democrats should refuse to take the bait and remain seated, metaphorically if not literally. The text criticized Democratic leaders for failing to robustly oppose what it called eliminationist efforts and said a false dichotomy has emerged in which supporting trans people is deemed at odds with key economic, so-called kitchen-table issues.
One line in the original commentary—“Just last week, Democratic California Gov. G”—is unclear in the provided context.
With midterm elections approaching and Virginia legislation circulating that would mandate parental notification and consent in schools, the issues raised by the Blairs’ attendance and the president’s remarks are set to remain on the national stage in the coming months.
