Olympian and reality star Caitlyn Jenner challenged the country’s greatest athletes and celebrities to expand their views of transgender people in her acceptance speech Wednesday for the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2015 ESPY Awards.
“If you want to call me names, make jokes, doubt my intentions, go ahead, because the reality is, I can take it,” she said. “But for the thousands of kids out there, coming to terms with being true to who they are, they shouldn’t have to take it.”
Jenner, who announced her transition through an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, said she was eager to keep learning and growing the visibility of her new community.
“To do whatever I can do to reshape the landscape of how trans issues are viewed, how trans people are treated,” she said. “And then more broadly to promote a very simple idea: Accepting people for who they are.”
Watch her full speech below.
People rarely understand that, for most trans people, life is a war. From the little slights like being misgendered to the fact that in many states, a trans woman can be murdered without the police lifting a finger to track down their murderer. People think this is a choice, point and laugh, or get upset because some “man” is trying to “trick” people into whatever. What they do not understand is that our brains tell us that we are the gender opposite the sex we were born. Some of us had our true selves torn out of us by doctors seeking to “correct” one intersex condition or another.
I love that Ms Jenner has won this award, and hope she can raise awareness of the life trans people live, but her experiences are very different from those of us who aren’t rich.
Was she this emotional when she killed someone in a car accident a few months ago?
You know, I wasnt sure that this wasnt a big publicity stunt, but after hearing the speech, I cant think of anyone more deserving. Anyone who is Trans should be proud of what he did on that stage. She might have made their lives just a little bit better.
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And yet, you misgender her…