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Caitlyn Jenner has been highly outspoken as a celebrity figure who is transgender, leveraging her time with the Kardashian clan to be an advocate for the trans community. But her recent attack on a young trans athlete has left many shaking their heads at her hypocrisy.
In an interview with the Daily Mail tabloid published earlier this month, Jenner took aim at Lia Thomas, the University of Pennsylvania swimmer. The latter has made headlines for her transition before competing as a trans woman in NCAA events. Fresh off of being interviewed by Sports Illustrated, Thomas recently won the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA Women’s swimming and diving championships in Atlanta, Georgia – a move that has drawn a firestorm of criticism from different individuals, including right-wing politicians. “I don’t think biological boys should compete in women’s sports – we have to protect women’s sports… that’s the bottom line”, the 72-year old former Olympian said in the interview. She also stated that she supports Thomas’ journey later on in the discussion, saying that she’d “love to . . . talk privately to her about the issue of sport’. (Thomas met the NCAA standards to compete as a woman after undergoing therapy to suppress her testosterone levels for two years.)
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The interview, and Jenner’s stance, brought a lot of fiery criticism her way on social media. That criticism included observations that pointed out that the former track star and reality show personality have flip-flopped when they deem it advantageous for her. Her run for Governor of California in 2020, which saw her undertake a staunchly Republican standpoint as the party ramped up attacks on trans children nationwide through policies on the state level, underscored this change. LGBTQ advocate Charlotte Clymer summed up the changing of Jenner’s position on Twitter – “it’s a grift.”
Jenner came out as transgender in 2015, with a Vanity Fair cover and profile interview chronicling the moment. She also was recognized at the ESPYs that year, receiving the Arthur Ashe Profile in Courage Award. In her speech accepting the award, Jenner said: “Trans people deserve something vital; they deserve your respect…from that respect comes a more compassionate community.” Since then, she has competed in women’s athletic events, primarily golfing. In 2016, Jenner competed in the ANA Inspiration Pro-Am, which was held in Rancho Mirage, California.
But Jenner has also defended author J.K. Rowling and comedian Dave Chappelle who caught heat for claiming that “gender is a fact” in his most recent Netflix comedy special. In the Daily Mail interview, she doubled-down, saying: “There’s a fringe element of the trans community that has a big voice, and their mission is to shut down all other opinions. I have a large platform [as well as Instagram, she has 3.4 million Twitter followers], so nobody’s going to shut me up. We can’t bow down to the woke people who want to change the world.”
As recently as Thursday (March 17th), Jenner is still defiantly holding onto her stance, exemplified by this pinned tweet on her Twitter account.
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