First trans-identified member of Congress claims to be a Presbyterian elder, ordained by Universal Life Church

Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., who was born Tim and became the first trans-identifying member of Congress last year, said in a recent interview that he is an elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church, which offers ordinations by mail.

At the end of an interview last week with "Amanda's Mild Takes," McBride revealed his ordination after reflecting on the "rarefied air" of the U.S. House of Representatives. He expressed hope that Congress can continue to deliver progress as previous generations did on important issues.

When asked if he had ever considered a second vocation as a preacher, McBride laughed, saying, "I am an ordained elder in the Presbyterian church."

"I'm also ordained in the Universal Life Church, so I can do weddings for both of those reasons. But I also can perform communion," McBride stated. 

"That probably makes some right-wingers' heads explode." 

Q: Have you thought about a second career as a preacher?

SARAH MCBRIDE: I am an ordained elder in the Presbyterian church. I can do weddings; I also perform communion. That probably makes some right-wingers' heads explode. pic.twitter.com/RAtwDCEYKL

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) April 18, 2026

When a clip of McBride's revelation went viral on X after being shared by Breitbart News, he suggested his prediction of the conservative response to his apparent ecclesiastical authority was accurate.

"The fact that they shared this seems to suggest that, perhaps, they may, in fact, potentially be pressed," McBride wrote.

McBride received a glowing profile from the PC(USA) last year, which recounted his claim that he decided to come out to his parents while singing a Christmas carol in the pew of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware. The article noted that McBride's family was active in the church, where his father was a ruling elder, his mother was a deacon, and McBride himself was active in the youth group and church musicals.

The PC(USA), which also produced Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico, has been hemorrhaging members and entire congregations in recent years as it moves in an increasingly liberal direction. The denomination affirmed LGBT ordination in 2011 and same-sex marriage in 2015.

Founded in 1962 by Kirby James Hensley, a Baptist minister from the North Carolina mountains who was functionally illiterate and relied on others to read the Bible to him, the Universal Life Church that ordained McBride ordains anyone who requests it regardless of belief system, according to its website.

Before his death in 1999, Hensley also declared sovereignty over the oceans, referring to himself as the "King of Aqualandia" and selling citizenship documents to his aquatic kingdom for $35.

McBride has repeatedly made headlines since being elected to represent nearly 1 million constituents in Delaware's at-large congressional district in 2024.

His trans-identifying status prompted an immediate battle on Capitol Hill over congressional bathrooms, spearheaded by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. The issue prompted House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to issue guidelines restricting single-sex facilities to biological sex.

A spokesperson for McBride confirmed to The Christian Post at the time that McBride intended to use private facilities at the U.S. Capitol.

In February, McBride participated in a panel about women's rights with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Munich Security Conference. Calling the freshman member of Congress a "gender rights champion," Clinton introduced McBride as someone who's "been on the front lines of this fight" and has "shown immense grace in the face of attacks, even from your fellow members of Congress."

McBride, who corrected his own use of "boogeyman" to "boogeyperson" during the panel, claimed the U.S. is "facing a well-funded, regressive right-wing movement, and they really have placed trans people at the center of that effort."