The Caitlyn Jenner story has been making headlines everywhere, to put it mildly. Everyone from celebrities to media outlets to everyone in between have praised, rightfully so, Jenner’s message of acceptance, which is still a message that needs to be conveyed. However, one thing that has been rarely talked about is Jenner’s politics, which contradict what many would assume to be the politics of a transgender person. Jenner is a self-described “conservative Republican.” Most who carry that title have acted against transgender and other LGBT goals. While some Republicans thought Jenner’s coming out could be a step forward towards more acceptance within the Republican Party, others like Rush Limbaugh (no surprise there) were less than accepting.
So, this brings in the question of why? Well, let us not forget that before Jenner fully transitioned, she was a straight, white, rich, athletic assigned-at-birth man — and now she is a rich, white woman. The likelihood for the support is more financial than social, which isn’t an entirely surprising trend, considering many pro-rich stances Republicans tend to take. An excellent article from the Huffington Post on the subject pointed out two wealthy Jewish gay men, Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass, were accused of supporting and contributing to the campaign of conservative Republican (and now presidential candidate) Ted Cruz.
As people support and praise Jenner for her transition, there still is the question of if her attention will be able to gather more movement for transgender rights. Jenner is a very lucky person with millions of dollars on hand to be able to go through the transition as smoothly as possible. But what about all the other transgender men and women who don’t have that money to transition that smoothly, who have been banned from the military, who can receive gross penalties for not using the bathrooms of their “birth gender” — all of which Republicans typically have supported?
So a glaring question is, why do we support someone who has such paradoxical allegiances that don’t benefit members of her community? Well, I will say Jenner has undoubtedly brought attention to the transgender-rights movement; the Vanity Fair cover will go down in history due to its instantly iconic status. Many people have obviously been inspired and will continue to be inspired by her, whether it’s transgender men and women who could see that image and feel better about themselves or anyone else who has gone through self-loathing and could be inspired by the confidence that Jenner has shown. Also, despite some resistance, she is arguably the face of progressivism in the Republican Party. For these things I applaud her, although I hope she can use her fame, as well as the publicity from her new TV show “I am Cait” (although in my opinion it should have been called “Transjenner”), to showcase and champion the transgender movement for all members — from rich to poor, to various ethnicities and more.
While I can’t say I support her politics nor her apparent reasons for those very politics, I will continue to support her if she is able to help bring the change this country needs not only to the transgender community, but to our country’s politics as well.