The Meaning of Caitlyn Jenner

PEOPLE-In the wake of the April interview with Diane Sawyer, you knew it was only a matter of time before the promised announcement: The 1976 Olympian we first knew as Bruce is now someone you should get to know as Caitlyn. That news is part of the big reveal in Vanity Fair: the Annie Leibovitz cover photo, the Buzz Bissinger feature, the new name and look. 

It is pretty much everything you might expect from a premium-brand transition from an international celebrity. It is also an extraordinary circumstance, unlike any trans person’s experience ever — but the opportunity it creates, to talk about the lives of all trans people and the place they have in the country and society we share, is still there. 

Whether you devour or despise celebrity coverage, Jenner is an important player in that conversation, not only because of what she has to say, now and into the future, but because the nature of celebrity affords everyone else the opportunity (and excuse) to start talking about it among themselves. Jenner’s news came out in the middle of a series of briefings on trans folk that I’ve been doing with a Midwestern police department for the Department of Justice. 

Adding an admired athlete and instantly recognizable public figure to those conversations is a benefit, because it helps combat negative stereotypes about who trans people are, what we do, and what we are like. 

Get right down to it, and the answer is that trans people are like everyone else, capable of achieving great, unusual things, like Olympic gold — and even greater things given the opportunity, like a good life well lived. 

The problem is that so few trans people get the chance to enjoy that greater thing of a good life. (Read the rest.)  

-cw

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 46

Pub: Jun 5, 2015

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