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How Should We Talk About Caitlyn Jenner?
The world’s most visible trans woman has kicked off her gubernatorial campaign by demonizing trans women in sports. How do we call her out?
Quick: When you think back on the past half-decade of political campaigns, what do you miss? Is it pointless celebrity vanity campaigns? Irresponsible culture war fearmongering? Do you love having bitter arguments about Representation and Tokenism and how the press ought to cover a problematic female candidate?
Buckle up, friend: Caitlyn Jenner is running for Governor of California, and her first major policy recommendation is banning trans girls from sports.
“This is a question of fairness,” Jenner told a reporter from TMZ this weekend. “That’s why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls’ sports in school. It just isn’t fair. And we have to protect girls’ sports in our schools.”
“We” have to do no such thing. Girls’ sports are not in danger; trans children are, and some of them are dying, or trying to die, because of the discriminatory legislation currently being aimed their way in over thirty states. That legislation often centers around blocking teenage trans girls from sports teams, on the way to more openly punitive measures like genital exams for gender non-conforming students.
So Jenner, who is a trans woman and an athlete, is reciting ugly, irresponsible rhetoric about transfeminine athletes, without even rewording her GOP talking points. It’s not a surprising move from Jenner, who has been openly Republican for many years, but it does confirm many people’s fears about her candidacy. Nearly every trans woman with a platform had to spend the weekend pushing back on her:
