Caitlyn Jenner is probably one of the most, if not the most, well-recognized transgendered person in our society. Once considered the world’s greatest male athlete, Caitlyn Jenner has undoubtedly overcome many obstacles in her journey to becoming a woman. When Caitlyn Jenner made her first public statement as a woman on the front cover of Vanity Fair, she received an outpouring of support and attention from the world for her courageous choice to transition and become her true self. She has been awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage ESPY Award, which is an award given to athletes for their courageous acts. She received an overflow of media attention when she stepped out as a woman, surpassing President Obama for gaining the most Twitter followers in the first 24 hours of creating her account. The LGBT community was originally thrilled to see a person as influential as Jenner taking a stand and representing a group of people who have faced severe backlash for being who they were born to be. However, her use of her fame since her transition has left many LGBT community members questioning her values.
In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Caitlyn Jenner opened up about her opinion on gay marriage. “I’m a traditionalist,” Jenner said. “I’m older than most people in the audience. I kind of like tradition, and it’s always been a man and a woman. I’m thinking, ‘I don’t quite get it.’”
She then further explained herself with the thought, “I think, like a lot of people on this issue, I have really changed my thinking here to, ‘I don’t ever want to stand in front of anybody’s happiness.’ That’s not my job, okay? If that word -- ‘marriage’ -- is really, really that important to you, I can go with it.”
DeGeneres was naturally surprised by this statement, because she is a strong advocate for the LGBT community herself, coming out as gay early on in her career. DeGeneres was quoted in an interview stating that she was very confused by Jenner’s stance, “I said, ‘You’re wanting people to understand and accept you – this is like, really confusing to people. And you still have a judgement about gay people and marriage,’” DeGeneres said. “She goes, ‘Well, if the word marriage is that important... It is. That’s the word. We want the same thing.”
In an interview with Buzzfeed, Jenner stated that the hardest part about being a woman has been “trying to figure out what to wear.” She went on to talk about how she really “had no sense of style” and has often looked to her family members to learn about fashion. Many people from the LGBT community and beyond found this statement to be extremely superficial, considering that most transgender women don’t go through their transition with the luxury of million dollar closets, personal makeup and hair artists, and a family full of Kardashians to guide them. Many transgender people are shunned by their family and friends, and can’t afford the surgeries or even clothes they need to be themselves. There are much more difficult problems that the LGBT community encounters everyday, and Jenner fails to represent those struggles.
Jenner managed to offend not only trans women, but also just women in general with this statement. Actress Rose McGowan criticized Jenner saying, “Caitlyn Jenner, you do not understand what being a woman is about at all,” in a Facebook post. “You want to be a woman and stand with us? Well, learn us. We are more than deciding what to wear. We are more than the stereotypes foisted upon us by people like you. You’re a woman now? Well f**king learn that we have had a VERY different experience than your life of male privilege. Woman of the year? No, not until you wake up and join the fight. Being a woman comes with a lot of baggage. The weight of unequal history. You’d do well to learn it. You’d do well to wake up. Woman of the year? Not by a long f**king shot.”
The sad fact of the matter is that Caitlyn Jenner is a conservative, traditional, privileged, rich woman who doesn’t represent or understand what the LGBT community stands for. The LGBT community consists of people who have been misunderstood and discriminated against for their entire lives, and simply want to be accepted and considered equal to the rest of society. How can Jenner expect to be accepted as a woman after 65 years of hiding behind a male facade, and then at the same time say she “doesn’t get” gay people wanting marriage rights? Caitlyn has admitted that, for the entirety of her life, she has been sexually attracted to women, but now that she is a woman herself, she refuses to discuss her sexuality or own up to the fact that she could now be considered a lesbian. She separates transgender rights from lesbian/gay rights in her mind, and indirectly stigmatizes their existence through her conservative values in many of her interviews.
While there are trans-phobics who will disrespect and condemn Caitlyn Jenner because of their own personal prejudices, much of the criticism of Jenner comes from those who once stood behind her and those she is supposed to represent, the LGBT community. I myself once stood by Jenner for taking a courageous step for herself and the LGBT community, but lately I find myself wondering if she has any understanding of how her opinions drastically contradict her actions. A leader in the LGBT community needs to be someone who is progressive and understanding of others, not hypocritical and closed-minded.
