Caitlyn Jenner has retracted her support for President Donald Trump following the news that the administration is trying to redefine the word "transgender." In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, Jenner, 68, said that she thought, in the early stages of his presidency, that Trump would try to bolster trans issues.
"Following Trump’s election as president, I saw fertile ground for change within the Republican Party on LGBTQ issues," Jenner writes. She points out that he is the first Republican to proclaim his support for the queer community openly. (She cites his statements at the 2016 Republic National Convention, where he said, "As president, I will do everything in my power to protect LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.")
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Now, though, Jenner has rethought her stance on Trump.
"The reality is that the trans community is being relentlessly attacked by this president," Jenner writes. "Believing that I could work with Trump and his administration to support our community was a mistake."
Jenner cites a few of his most egregious anti-LGBTQ actions. Namely, there's the memo from the Department of Health and Human Services which the New York Times obtained this week. In it, the Department proposes that, under Title IX, a law that governs gender discrimination, sex be determined by biology and "science." The draft states that sex would be "on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable." This stance on gender would effectively erase the term "transgender" from Title IX protection.
Jenner also lists Trump's motion to remove Obama's protections for trans children in school bathrooms, which happened in February of 2017, and his support of Defense Secretary's motion to restrict transgender operatives in the military in July that same year. (Since it was announced, several judges have blocked this ban.) Through many of these moments, Caitlyn Jenner remained a vocal advocate for Trump, although her support for him appeared to be waning.
In July of last year, following the trans military ban, Jenner tweeted at Trump: "There are 15,000 patriotic transgender Americans in the US military fighting for all of us. What happened to your promise to fight for them?"
Jenner previously explained her support for Trump as the result of not voting "single issue." With this recent update, though, she has officially retracted her support; she conclude in the op-ed that she no longer supports Trump. She does not, however, say whom she supports in the upcoming midterms.