On July 15, Caitlyn Jenner took the stage at the ESPYs, ESPN’s annual awards ceremony, to accept the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. Before awards night, hate and controversy were circulating.
Some people were all for it while others questioned why athletes such as Noah Galloway or Lauren Hill hadn’t received the award. Hill (1995-2015), a basketball player for Mount St. Joseph who lost her battle to cancer in April 2015, and Galloway, a soldier who lost both his right arm and leg in battle, both seemed more deserving. Instead, Jenner received the award.
You may consider this a disgrace to Arthur Ashe, who the award is named after, but how can you be so sure? Ashe was the first African American to be selected to the United States Davis Cup team. He was also a World No. 1 professional tennis player. After being diagnosed with HIV, he set out to raise awareness and support for others suffering from the same disease. After his death, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. Ashe knew what discrimination felt like. He knew what it was like to pave the way for a group of people — much like Jenner.
The first Arthur Ashe Award for Courage was given following Ashe's death in 1993 to basketball player, Jim Valvano, who died of metastatic cancer just eight weeks following his acceptance speech. People like Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela and Pat Summit have all received this award since its founding. In the last two years, however, the award has been given to Robin Roberts and Michael Sam, both of whom are openly homosexual. So, why are we now so appalled that Jenner, a transgender woman, would receive the same award for similar bravery?
I completely understand the argument that Galloway and Hill faced a battle between life and death, which is arguably much harder and much more tragic than any other battle, but why is Jenner's battle somehow diminished in this process? Galloway and Hill showed great amounts of bravery and should be honored, but just because you may disagree morally with Jenner, how does that lessen the courage it took to stand up in front of a world that was already watching her and declare that she is someone that people look at and immediately mock? I do not necessarily agree with the transgender movement, but I also know that I have never experienced it directly or even somewhat indirectly. I can’t begin to understand the struggle behind it, so who am I to say that it is a battle that she could have kept to herself, or that it is a battle that has no value because of the “immorality” behind it?
That’s just it. I don’t get to decide. I am not the judge of ultimate courage, and neither are you. Courage is about more than just whether you win or lose a battle. It’s about more than whether you risked your life or not. Courage is about character. It is about overcoming the odds. It is about doing something that most people would shy away from out of fear. Is that not exactly what Jenner has done and is doing? She is standing up for what she believes is right for her. She is overcoming the mockery and slander that can lead to a mental, emotional, and sometimes physical death. She has looked at the gloomy statistics regarding transgender people and chosen to stand up anyway.
Jenner is courageous. Whether or not I agree with her lifestyle choices is irrelevant. I will respect her intentions and bravery. Moral or immoral, wherever you stand on the issue, courage is courage. Be inspired by the fact that courage does not just occur in a battle between life and death. Courage is believing in yourself, even when no one else does.
