The political climate in the United States is bleak at best and terrifying at worst for many in the LBGTQ+ community right now. Navigating headlines and house bills is hard for anyone, especially for those being attacked by the current administration.
But not all is lost, as long as changemakers like 23-year-old Alice Wade have something to say about it. Wade, both an aerospace engineer and politician, is the New Hampshire State Representative for Dover’s Ward 2. This makes her one not only one of the youngest state representatives in the U.S., but one of the few trans politicians in the country. When she isn’t busy creating thermal protection fibers for spacecrafts, she is even busier paving the way for young, trans representation in politics.
INTO spoke with Wade about her life, her beliefs, and her approach to the current political landscape.
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You’ve got a pretty rich background that goes beyond politics and goes into the sky. Tell me about your transition from aerospace engineering to politics.
My full-time job is still as an aerospace engineer. I serve as a state legislator part-time in New Hampshire. You don’t get paid, really, for being a state legislator. It’s $200 every two years, which is basically nothing. I think one of my colleagues at one point remarked that it cost him more than that to do his dry cleaning for his suits. So yeah, it’s a humble living. [laughs] I actually did have a summer internship at SpaceX. That was around the time I was starting to date my current fiancé, and I ended up deciding to stay in New Hampshire after I graduated.
I never really imagined myself getting into politics when I was younger, or even throughout college. I was pretty singularly focused on engineering. After I graduated, I found a bunch of anti-trans legislation. I was genuinely kind of shocked by it, because I’d seen all this stuff about Florida and Texas having all these terrible anti-trans bills, but I didn’t really think that was going to happen in New Hampshire. I went from going to rallies to organizing the rallies to speaking at the rallies over time. In 2024, eventually somebody asked me, “Hey, the person in your State House seat is resigning — are you interested in running?” I thought about it for a while and eventually decided, yes, it was something I wanted to do. It’s not something I expected to do as an engineer, but it’s something I found to be very empowering.
How has your understanding of science impacted your politics?
It’s kind of funny in the way that it’s made me understand how little most people understand about science. I’ll see legislators make these wild claims about wind turbines or vaccines, and it makes you realize how many people are in positions of power who don’t really understand the effect they’re having on these industries. It’s made me really try to not approach issues in that same way for things I don’t understand. There’s a lot of policy stuff that’s genuinely new to me, things I’ve never really thought about before. I want to approach these issues with a sense of curiosity and genuine desire to understand. I do not want to make immediate assumptions or impulsive decisions.
Unfortunately, I think our system is structured in such a way that you end up having to make impulsive decisions without understanding how these things work, because we vote on hundreds and hundreds of bills. It’s made me think about how we could change the way the legislature runs to allow us to better understand these bills before we vote on them.
Speaking of what people are getting wrong, what is something that you think people generally get wrong about local politics, something that they might not understand, that you’ve come to learn?
How approachable it can be, both in terms of participating as a citizen and the idea of running for office. A lot of these local officials are really interested in sharing what they do and hearing from people. They don’t know there’s a giant pothole on your street that hasn’t been repaired unless someone is willing to bring it up.
On the note of running for office, I think it’s something a lot of people find super intimidating. But we need more people in local and state offices who maybe didn’t imagine themselves doing it. I don’t know if this is controversial to say, but the dumbest people that you know won’t have second thoughts about whether they’re qualified to run for office. If Marjorie Taylor Greene can be a congresswoman, you can be on your local school board.
“If Marjorie Taylor Greene can be a congresswoman, you can be on your local school board.”
– Alice Wade
As someone who is open about their trans identity, especially in the world of politics, how do you navigate the intolerance towards your own existence, and what would you say to other young trans people — both in and out of politics — about how they should navigate it as well?
I get quite a few fun emails. I’m not gonna lie and say it’s a happy-go-lucky world we’re living in right now. It is tough, and you’re going to hear a lot of really terrible stuff. It’s taken me a while to reach the point where I’m comfortable enough in my own skin and confident enough in myself to take that in stride. It’s not like it never gets to me, but when I hear the same crazy lady going on the same terrible rants, I’ve found ways to make it humorous to myself.
Genuinely, humor feels like the best way I’ve been able to cope with a lot of this stuff. I have a very oppositional defiance that I kind of get from my mom, for people who want to beat me down. There are a lot of people at the State House and in that world who want me to feel demoralized and not want to keep going because they’re constantly saying these terrible things. I really don’t like giving them that satisfaction. Because, sure, it’s crazy. At the same time, it’s kind of funny. They don’t want me to laugh. They want me to be sad. That’s why building a support network and finding allies has been what’s kept me going.
The allies inside the State House have been incredibly supportive. I’ve also been getting so many amazing letters and emails that completely thwart the terrible ones. That’s what keeps me going. There was a letter clearly written by a 4-year-old in crayon. It’s just super sweet and makes me want to keep coming back for them, and also not give the Republicans what they want.
I want to talk about House Bill 148. You spoke out against this bill that would separate certain spaces like bathrooms, locker rooms, sports teams, and prisons by sex as assigned at birth.* I want to ask, on our second go around of this administration, how do you navigate the exhaustion of having to fight for basic human rights?
I think part of it is that there’s no one person that’s going to save us from this type of crisis. I don’t think we should expect every one of us to constantly, 24/7, be on high alert. Obviously, we’re in a very tough time right now, but I still find little ways every day to just have a bit of fun. I’ll pick up a video game I haven’t played in a while, build a miniature model, and just find that little bit of time to decompress. You need to find ways to have fun at karaoke or your friend’s birthday party or that sort of thing. Despite how hard it is, it really does help to have hope, to have fun, and to laugh.
But at the same time, when the moment comes, we have to take everything deadly seriously and really focus and put everything we have into pushing back against these policies. Once in a while, we should get out of our comfort zone and go to a protest, even if we haven’t been to one before. Take a friend. It might be scary to go testify at the State House, but there are people out there who want to help and who can coach you on how these things work. Because we can’t all do this alone.
What’s your favorite video game?
Hollow Knight or Stardew Valley. One of those two.
So, you were elected in 2024. On the same day, so was President Donald Trump. Do you think this speaks to a large ideological divide in this country?
That was a very interesting day. I have to admit that it was a mix of happiness and terror. I mean, yes, there’s a big ideological divide. Donald Trump has pulled a lot of people into his orbit and made them willing to listen to a lot of what he says. And when he points people in a certain direction and tells them to attack, they follow. Whether it’s against trans people, or in the past, things like CRT or other so-called “boogeymen” that the Republican Party has used to create fear of certain social groups and identities.
It can be difficult to understand how that kind of thing happens, but at the same time, a lot of people supported [Trump] because they believed his promises: to lower prices when they were struggling, or that deporting immigrants would solve crime. So even if they didn’t necessarily agree with all of his rhetoric, some of it came from being misled, or from misunderstanding.
One of the hardest things right now is being willing to have empathy and talk to Republicans in a more human way. Because it’s hard to have a conversation when the policies they support are the exact opposite of what you believe. But I’ve found that they are sometimes willing to change their views if you approach them with respect and treat them like people.
It might take time. They might say awful things out of ignorance. But they won’t get past that ignorance unless they’re shown that trans people are just people. That’s kind of been my approach. I just act like myself. I don’t lead with being trans; I just talk about housing policy or other topics like anyone else. It might be slow and difficult, but I really think it’s something we need more of.
“It’s hard to have a conversation when the policies they support are the exact opposite of what you believe. But I’ve found that they are sometimes willing to change their views if you approach them with respect and treat them like people.”
– Alice Wade
You are fresh into office, but do you have any big wins that you want to discuss?
One thing that wasn’t exactly a huge win on paper, but felt really encouraging to me, happened right at the start of the session. Before any bills were even filed, I was genuinely worried we’d lose a bunch of Democrats — maybe 10 to 15 — on every anti-trans bill. That idea that compromising would somehow help Democrats win was still floating around.
But since the session started, we’ve only lost one or two Democrats. They’re usually the same two. But we’ve actually picked up four or five Republican votes on those bills. So we’ve gained more Republicans than we’ve lost Democrats, which totally bucks the narrative that Democrats need to compromise on these issues.
You’re really interested in bipartisanship right now. How come?
Well, partly because right now, it’s the only way we can actually get much done as Democrats. There’s this dynamic where a lot of Republicans will vote to kill any bill proposed by a Democrat just because it’s from a Democrat. It sounds harsh, but that’s been the reality. Meanwhile, I’ve seen Democrats generally more willing to support Republican bills if they’re good on the merits and serve a real purpose.
But beyond that, I genuinely think bipartisanship is important. Sure, there are always going to be issues where we vote one way and they vote the other. But I hate the idea of gridlock. We’re all elected to solve problems, and instead we’re just bickering and ignoring what our constituents actually need. It’s worth working together where we can, so we’re not stuck in this endless partisan standoff where nothing meaningful gets done.
What do community members and allies need to be doing to protect trans individuals both young and old right now?
Boy. I mean, there are the obvious things like showing up to rallies and events, supporting people, learning how things like bathroom bans and healthcare bans actually affect trans lives and supporting organizations like The Trevor Project or Trans Lifeline.
But I think it also comes down to emotional support. If you have a trans friend, relative, or coworker, check in. See how they’re doing. Just showing up for someone in a personal way makes a big difference. If you’ve got family or friends who don’t support trans people and you’re able, try to have a conversation. Approach it in whatever way works best for you. There’s no perfect post or one-liner that changes someone’s mind. But real conversations that are private, in-person ones can move the needle. Maybe they won’t change their mind overnight. But maybe they go from calling trans people mentally ill to saying, “I don’t get it, but okay.” That’s something. It’s about being willing to have tough conversations — and honestly, getting offline and doing it in person, because the internet messes with our brains. It makes it harder to see each other as people.
“We’re all elected to solve problems, and instead we’re just bickering and ignoring what our constituents actually need. It’s worth working together where we can, so we’re not stuck in this endless partisan standoff where nothing meaningful gets done.”
– Alice Wade
Back to aerospace engineering. You’re also the founder of the Sally Ride Fellowship, a program that helps underrepresented students get internships in the industry. Why is it so important to help open those doors?
Last year, I co-founded the Sally Ride Fellowship with a group of friends from my student space organization. It was inspired by the story of Sally Ride, who was the first American woman in space and one of the few queer astronauts, though we didn’t know that part until after she passed away. It broke my heart to learn [Ride and her partner] kept it secret out of fear that the Sally Ride Foundation might lose funding if people knew Sally was queer. That just shouldn’t be the world we live in.
Aerospace is a tough industry to break into. It’s competitive, and often success comes down to personal networks. That kind of built-in advantage often favors cis white men, especially when those referral pipelines start in college clubs and self-replicate into the professional world. We wanted to create something to break that cycle.
The Sally Ride Fellowship helps queer students and allies get their foot in the door. We evaluate applicants not only on technical skill, but on leadership and advocacy potential. Once selected, we connect them with aerospace companies that commit to considering our candidates seriously. No free passes, just a fair shot. The companies still conduct interviews and make hiring decisions like they normally would, but we’re creating a pipeline where one didn’t exist before.
We just matched our very first cohort with their mentors last week, and they start their internships next month. It’s a small class to start, but we’re so excited and hopeful that we’ll expand to even more companies in the years ahead. This model has worked in other fields, and we know it can be powerful here too.
You should definitely be proud of that. My last question: why are you proud to be a part of Gen Z?
Living as a Gen Z person, my whole life has kind of been one big event after another.
Something that’s tricky with people who’ve been born more recently, who are a bit younger, is that Donald Trump has been something in their lives since 2016. To a lot of people, him just as a politician, the way he approaches being president, has just become so normalized. To them, it’s all they’ve ever known in a certain way.
I appreciate being able to remember a time where the world wasn’t like this. I appreciate having that perspective that this is not the end all, be all.
Also having the perspective of somebody who grew up when gay marriage wasn’t legal. Now it’s just super normal. I think trans rights, I’m hoping, will eventually become that natural thing that people don’t even think twice about. I hope that one day we get to a place where trans people can just be seen as normal. We don’t have to spend every state legislature in the country targeting trans people. I think we will get there one day. ♦
*Since this interview was conducted, House Bill 148 has passed in both the house and senate of New Hampshire. It is now awaiting approval from Governor Kelly Ayotte.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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INTO’s 25 Under 25 is celebrating 25 queer changemakers ages 25 and under all Pride Month long. Check out a new interview every weekday through July 4 on our 25 Under 25 homepage.
