For members of the LGBT+ community, it has been a painful process welcoming Caitlyn Jenner into the community. Since announcing her transition, Jenner has been quite a controversial spokesperson for the transgender community. She publicly and openly holds many views, both politically and socially that makes many of us, including myself, cringe. In the second season of Jenner's show, "I Am Cait," she has frustratingly affirmed these seemingly backward beliefs.
As a transgender advocate, Jenner has become a figurehead for thousands of people. Her celebrity status (pre- and post-transition) has made it hard for her to deny the ascension to this role. In this role, however, Jenner has made some comments that have puzzled and angered a large portion of the trans community. In TIME's "Person of the Year" interview, she infamously said, "If you're out there and, to be honest with you, if you look like a man in a dress, it makes people uncomfortable." Her "man in a dress" comment was just one example of her poor choice of words when it mattered most.
In season two of "I Am Cait," Jenner and several famous scholars and trans peoples tour the country learning and educating. On this tour, and in episode one, it is clear Jenner is being forced to learn just as much as she is to educate. In the show, it is made known that Jenner is a very staunch Republican who supports Ted Cruz, the junior senator from Texas and believes Hilary Clinton is "a f*****g liar." It does not take a brain surgeon to understand how confusing this is. This is not an attack on the Republican party, but it is a fact that the Republican party through time has rejected the LGBT+ community, especially the transgender community and its needs. The women on the tour with Jenner are as dumbfounded as the rest of us watching at home, I am sure. Jenner defends the Republican party by saying how it has through time defended the rights of all people, and how it is not right for us to peg the party as these generally awful people who want to oppress the trans community. Jenner also repeatedly undermines the efforts of the trans movement when she more or less argues that the economy is the most important issue at hand right now and that because of the Democratic party, our country will collapse.
As succinctly as possible, I would like to unapologetically say that Caitlyn Jenner is wrong. I want to say that it is not the members of the Democratic party who are drafting and carrying out legislation specifically targeting trans rights, characterizing LGBT+ men and women as molesters and perverts, or not speaking up for LGBT+ Americans who are getting murdered at an alarming rate. While I do not believe Hilary Clinton is the best choice, do not for one second say she cares less than Ted Cruz. That is a bold-faced lie and you should be ashamed of yourself. Your poor choice of words in a politically sensitive society is one thing, but your refusal to acknowledge the black and white that is the two political parties is alarming and shameful. A lot of people can learn from your social blunders, but I am afraid you are not letting yourself learn and that is not OK. I sincerely hope that this season is as transformative for you ideologically as it was for you in your personal transition.
