She once appeared on a Wheaties box, but no Olympic medal could get Caitlyn Jenner
the kind of press she has now. Did she literally get away with murder? Here's
why the woman who prefers to be called "dad" lights fires everywhere she goes.
"I gotta do it kind of my way, that works for me. And I think everybody out there
has to do it their way, which works for them." Early in Jenner's public life as a trans woman,
she upset trans advocates with her remarks about the ability of certain trans people to "pass" — or
move through society undetected as "trans." While it may be an impossible task for those with less
resources, not every trans person wants to blend in. Emily VanDerWerff wrote for Vox,
"As trans people, we're supposed to complicate the gender binary,
not uphold it. By trying my damnedest not to stand out but to blend in [...] I'm
propagating a system that hurts both trans people and women disproportionately."
When Jenner made Time magazine's "Person of the Year" shortlist,
she claimed she focused on her looks to put others at ease, adding,
"I think it's much easier for a trans woman or a trans man who authentically kind of
looks and plays the role. If you're out there and, to be honest with you,
if you look like a man in a dress, it makes people uncomfortable."
"If you're gonna do that, come out, you really have to look the part."
Attempting to manage the obvious pushback, she apologized in a since-deleted blog post, writing,
"People who look 'visibly transgender' sometimes can struggle for acceptance and may be treated
poorly by others. And while this may be true, it's also something that needs to change."
In her early days as Caitlyn, Jenner made numerous allowances for anyone using her wrong pronouns and
name. While it was her personal choice, as Vox noted, she is the highest-profile trans
woman in the country. And many were hoping she would speak up on behalf of the trans community.
"There's some things that you said that you might not realize are hurtful."
In the article introducing Caitlyn to the world, Vanity Fair writer Buzz Bissinger
repeatedly referred to her deadname and openly admitted to calling her "dude" and "man."
Instead of making it a learning moment, Jenner told Bissinger,
"I don’t really get hung up. A guy came in the other day and I was fully dressed—it’s
just habit, I said 'Hi, Bruce here,' and I went, 'Oh f—, it ain't Bruce.'"
Since then, Jenner has continued to experience
widespread misgendering and deadnaming since coming out — from everyone including Twitter
trolls to "Saturday Night Live." As ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio tweeted:
"When large platforms like 'SNL' deadname and misgender trans people it legitimizes
the notion of trans-ness as spectacle and fraud. It isn't funny. It is dangerous."
When she sat down with Ellen DeGeneres,
Jenner was asked about her previous lack of support for gay marriage.
Claiming she now thought differently, she admitted that she was previously not on board. She said,
"If that word 'marriage' is really,
really that important to you [...] I can go with it, you know?"
DeGeneres noted that Jenner still seemed hesitant about her support, adding,
"Marriage is marriage and equality is equality."
Years later, Jenner confessed to her "Big Brother VIP Australia" castmates that there
may have been a better way to handle the "Ellen" show question. But when DeGeneres then went to
the media and misrepresented Jenner's answer, Jenner said she considered banning all of the
Kardashian-Jenners from appearing on "Ellen" as a result of her post-show treatment.
Jenner launched her reality show, "I Am Cait," as an opportunity to explore her identity.
And she surrounded herself with trans advocates in an attempt to learn about her new community.
But she often clashed with her co-stars, preferring to stick by her conservative views.
Claiming that her friends were convinced she now had to become a liberal, Jenner said on the show,
"I think I can keep all of my views
the same cause I feel in my heart that that's the best way to go."
When writer and advocate, Jenny Boylan, asked Jenner
to look into how some Republican policies hurt the trans community,
Jenner refused. Jenner ultimately announced the show's cancellation on Twitter, writing,
"Thank you E! & thank you to the best girlfriends I could ask for!"
But many of the women on the show, including actress Jen Richards,
have since distanced themselves from Jenner. Richards confessed,
"I think I've kind of given up on her." Fans of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians"
know that Jenner remains close with her daughters Kylie and Kendall. And while her eldest daughter
lives life out of the limelight, Jenner's relationship with her three sons appears strained.
When she ran for governor of California, in 2021, TMZ reported that she had only let her
sons know the night before she went public with the announcement. And sources claimed that Brody,
Burt, and Brandon Jenner felt she was unqualified to get into politics.
The Jenner boys have also spoken in the past about their difficult relationship with Caitlyn
throughout their lives. Claiming she was mostly absent, Brandon wrote in an essay via News.com,
"Sadly the infrequent exchanges felt more like staged photo opportunities than real bonding.
In fact, they were stage photo ops for 'family' Christmas cards."
"What I've learned is just to not expect too much from her."
Brody claimed on "The Hills: New Beginnings" that he, too, felt distant from Caitlyn, explaining,
"When I was really little, we got to spend a little bit of time. When [she] started,
you know, obviously with the family, the Kardashian family and all of that,
I didn't really see much of [her]." It may be the Kardashian-Jenner way of life,
but since her marriage to Kris Jenner ended, Caitlyn has possibly been a little too
open about what went wrong. She told Vanity Fair of Kris:
"A lot of times she wasn't very nice. People would see how I got mistreated.
She controlled the money, all that kind of stuff."
But Kris felt the source of conflict was the fault of the opposite party. She responded,
"[She] was married to me and [she] wasn’t who [she] wanted to be so [she] was miserable….
All I was doing was working very hard for my family so
that we could all have a wonderful future, and [she] was pissed off."
"Did she tell you early on?"
"No."
"Oh, I did too."
"She keeps saying she told me, but she didn't."
Later, with the release of her memoir, "The Secrets of my Life,"
Caitlyn once again sparked backlash from the family.
She claimed to have previously told Kris about her struggle with her gender, which Kris denies.
Caitlyn said they would likely always argue about who knew what when, adding,
"She insists that she was taken by surprise by my ultimate transition
to Caitlyn. [...] I told her there had been a woman inside me all my life."
Of course, the family drama played out for fans.
"Everything she says is all made up.
Why does everything have to be that 'Kris is such a b—- and a–hole?'"
In 2015, Jenner rear-ended another car while driving along the Pacific Coast Highway,
sending the other vehicle into oncoming traffic. The victim, Kim Howe, was killed in the incident.
Jenner released a statement at the time to E! News that read:
"It is a devastating tragedy, and I cannot pretend to imagine what this
family is going through at this time. I am praying for them."
According to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, Jenner had been traveling at "unsafe" speeds.
But CNN reported that no charges were brought against her. Still, according to the LA Times,
a lawsuit from the victim's family was settled by Jenner for an undisclosed sum.
Jenner received possibly the most backlash for voting for Donald Trump
in 2016 — the president who once banned trans people from serving in the military.
Claiming she was pro-Constitution and pro-freedom, Jenner also told Seth Meyers of Republicans,
"Now, as far as LBGT issues, I gotta keep an eye on these people."
But by 2018, Jenner had written an op-ed for The Washington Post
admitting to the damage of some of Trump's policies, adding,
"I was wrong. […] He has ignored our humanity. He has insulted our dignity. He has made trans
people into political pawns as he whips up animus against us in an attempt to energize
the most right-wing segment of his party. This is politics at its worst. It is unacceptable,
it is upsetting, and it has deeply, personally hurt me."
But when Jenner ran for California governor and needed to nab the conservative vote,
she was back to talking up Trump. As she told Sean Hannity,
"He did some things that I agreed with, some things I didn't agree with."
Though she claims she didn't vote for Trump in 2020, she didn't actually vote at all.
And she told Fox News that she would support him again if he ran in 2024.
Jenner's coming-out earned her the coveted Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs,
in 2015. And as part of her emotional acceptance speech, she told the crowd,
"I also want to acknowledge all the young trans athletes who are out there,
given the chance to play sports as who they really are."
But a few years later, during her run for governor, TMZ questioned her
about the debate over whether trans girls should be allowed to play on girls' teams.
This time, Jenner had a different take. She said,
"This is a question of fairness. That's why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in
girls' sports in school. It just isn't fair, and we have to protect girls' sports in our schools."
Soccer star and out lesbian, Ali Krieger, said she was surprised by the answer, telling Variety,
"I feel like every kid, including trans kids,
should have the opportunity to play the sport they love to play."
Jenner's stance evolved even further, a few weeks later,
when she stated on "America's Newsroom" that when it comes to trans women who grew up as girls:
"Trans women, who are truly trans…" "…of course, they should be able
to compete in girls' sports." In 2021, in the midst of Jenner's
political campaign, she flew to Australia. That meant she needed to be granted an exemption
for the country's notoriously strict COVID-19 lockdown and quarantine rules.
While this allowance might be expected due to her status as an active political hopeful,
she drew considerable international ire because of her actual reason for traveling;
starring on the Australian version of "Celebrity Big Brother"…"Big Brother VIP."
As one might expect, the move caused a firestorm of controversy.
Sky News host Paul Murray noted that some Australians were still stuck abroad more
than a year into the pandemic due to the country's severe lockdown. He said,
"This is ridiculous. There are literally flights that are returning with zero people
on them because of travel caps, but she can fly into the country."
On the day the series cast was announced, Jenner revealed on Twitter that she
had already been eliminated from the competition and was back in the U.S.,
making the whole thing feel extra-pointless. But she still managed to make headlines
anyway during her brief appearance, telling her housemates about her former friend OJ Simpson:
"Obviously, he did it." Comedian Dave Chappelle recently found
himself in hot water over the transphobic comments he made in his Netflix special, "The Closer."
In it, he announced he was "team TERF," a.k.a. Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. And he also
made jokes about a late trans woman he claimed was a friend. Amid the furor, Chappelle visited
his old high school in November 2021, where students claimed he was a bigot and that his
rants were responsible for the death of trans people. Variety reported that he responded with:
"I'm better than all of you."
Chappelle blamed "cancel culture" for the hubbub, and just as predictably,
Jenner leapt to his defense. She tweeted:
"This isn't about the LGBTQ movement. It's about woke cancel culture run amok, trying to silence
free speech. We must never yield or bow to those who wish to stop us from speaking our minds."
Like many on Twitter, writer Dani Stewart disagreed with Jenner's stance, posting:
"You don't speak for me or ANY other trans folx I know. Caitlyn, you need to soul search."
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