Jenner slurs against trans community

by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer

Caitlyn Jenner, media favorite, came out in the same year as a transgender woman and as an opponent of LGBT rights. A seeming insult to trans women, Jenner’s privilege has kept her out of the margin where the majority of the transgender community lay.

Jenner claims to advocate for the transgender community, but has also said that she plans to vote for the Republican Party in the 2016 election – a party who notoriously denies rights to transgender women and men, as well as the rest of the LGBTQIA community.

In an interview this week at the United Nations, she said that she is “pretty comfortable with the [LGBT] issues here in the United States.” Critically, that statement undermines the daily plight of other transgender women and girls, who are scrutinized, shamed, bullied or worse.

Luckily for Jenner, fame, fortune and being a white person have preserved her self-worth. She is, of course, central to the public eye, but her social standing and fiscal means give her a clear advantage. The scrutiny, shaming and bullying are no threat – in fact, they may even be the publicity jackpot.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Campaign says that more than 21 transgender murders have taken place this year alone. Nearly all of these victims were transgender women of color.

According to a statement released by Chad Griffin, President of the HRC, “This kind of violence is often motivated by anti-transgender bias; but that is rarely the only factor. At a time when transgender people are finally gaining visibility and advocates are forcing our country to confront systemic violence against people of color, transgender women of color are facing an epidemic of violence that occurs at the intersections of racism, sexism and transphobia…”

Jenner fails to address this issue as though it is an active problem or even a solvable one. “We’ve come a long way,” she said to the UN. “But if you look at this on an international level, these issues are huge.”

They are huge here, too.

Enraging activists and fellow trans individuals further, Jenner passively insulted the transgender community in general. “I think it’s much easier for a trans woman or a trans man who authentically kind of looks and plays the role. So what I call my presentation. I try to take that seriously. I think it puts people at ease. If you’re out there and, to be honest with you, if you look like a man in a dress, it makes people uncomfortable.”

A statement like this – an insinuation that trans women look like men in dresses – shows cultural insensitivity, privilege and a staggering amount of ignorance regarding even her own identity.

Cosmopolitan’s Alex Rees said in response, “[This is] a long-standing slur thrown at trans women. Newsflash: there’s nothing wrong with a man wearing a dress, whether it’s as part of a transition or just because he would like some fresh air on his balls once in a while – but in certain contexts, the label is hurtful.”

She goes on to say, “It’s incredible to hear such thoughtless criticism, borderline bigotry, really, from a woman who surely knows how wrong such terminology is. That she’s somehow internalized the slur is unfortunate (but not uncommon among minority communities facing prejudice); that she’s now projecting it upon the trans community at large is unacceptable.”

Caitlyn Jenner is known for her stance against the LGBT community. So, in the coming years of cultural acceptance and progress, she may be in for either a rude or a very hopeful awakening.

The Gayly - 12/17/2015 @ 3:47 p.m. CST