The Trouble With Caitlyn
Caitlyn Jenner is running for governor of California and I wish she wasn’t.
In 2015, Jenner, who had gained fame as an Olympic gold medal winner and television commentator, let the world know she was a transgender woman. She had a high-profile interview with Diane Sawyer and a Vanity Fair cover with the declaration: “Call Me Caitlyn.”
Jenner was thrust into the media spotlight as the most visible transgender person in the county, and probably, the world. Ever since her announcement, she’s been the target of criticism from within the transgender community. She was criticized as being unrepresentative of the struggles most transgender people face in their daily lives.
In the 2016 presidential race, she endorsed Donald Trump, who said she could use whatever bathroom at Trump Tower she felt most comfortable in. Jenner was blasted, rightly; she still subscribed to the view that Republicans would have the economy booming and all other problems would melt away. She issued multiple mea culpas after Trump took office, but the damage was done.
I read her autobiography, The Secrets of My Life, and found I could relate to her lifelong awareness of her identification as female, and struggle to deal with it. She would pack a suitcase with women’s clothing and makeup, drive to a distant motel, dress, and walk around alone as Caitlyn.
I also drew inspiration from her willingness to transition—and accept the ridicule that came with it, on a worldwide stage. I’m somewhat prominent in my community of 50,000 people, and decided if she could transition with the entire world watching, I could manage it in my own life as well.
Although it hasn’t generated much attention, I was aware that she was using her foundation to support organizations helping trans people of color and to fund pioneering social science research on trans lives.
Fast forward to 2021. California Governor Gavin Newsom is facing a recall campaign, and Jenner launched a campaign to replace him if the voters show Newsom the door. If I lived in California, I’d never vote for her, but still, I saw some good potentially coming out of it; I thought it might finally force the GOP to confront its entrenched transphobia.
Then came her declaration that transgender athletes shouldn’t be allowed to compete in sports. That finally did it for me. I was appalled; I was outraged; I struggled to understand why she would turn on her own community.
A post by trans actress Alexandra Billings caused the scales to fall from my eyes. She pointed out it’s possible to be both transgender and transphobic. That may be tragic in a personal sense, but it doesn’t excuse Jenner’s blindness to the struggles that trans people who live in the real world face every day. I realize now that I spent a good part of my own life struggling against the transphobic messages I had internalized in my own life, but I finally overcome them and now love the person I’ve become. It’s too bad Jenner has been unable to do the same.
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Category: Transgender Opinion
About the Author (Author Profile)
Claire Hall was born and grew up in a large city on the left coast and has spent most of her adult years in a beautiful small coastal community where she's now an elected official in local government after spending many years as a newspaper and radio reporter. In her space time she loves reading, writing fiction (her first novel was published by a regional press a couple of years ago), watching classic Hollywood movies, and walking.Subscribe
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I’m not sure about trans athletes because there has been no definitive science on this as of yet. However this article once again reveals the view that we are of a certain group and that group must engage in group think . And to boot the author engages in the usual name calling such as transphobic.
Having a contrary opinion does not equal turning on your community.
And even if it may irk you being with the GOP as Jenner is will do us a lot more good with GOP voters than just turning your back on that voting bloc.
We need the acceptance of those 74 million voters