JUNE 2, 2015
Almost to a person, reaction to Caitlyn Jenner’s introduction to the world has been positive and encouraging, with tweets from President Obama to sports figures to trans activists applauding her courage in the way she revealed herself. There were a few split decisions, in one case within the same newspaper — a front page story in the Los Angeles Times (negative) and another in the Calendar (positive). But that split was a minority in almost every outlet.
Almost. As might have been expected, a few of the culture warriors of the right have publicly taken a dim view of the emergence of Caitlyn Jenner via her front-page spead in Vanity Fair. Anything that shakes up that popular status quo is bound to create some blowback, but even cynical me was surprised by the mocking tone of some on the right.
“Now I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE.”
-Mike Huckabee, GOP presidential candidate and self-proclaimed “Man of God”
“If Bruce Jenner can have 4,000 surgeries and say he’s a woman, why can’t he do same and say he’s black?”
-Dan Gainor, VP Media Research Council
“A man can never understand a woman’s perspective on abortion, but can magically become a woman.”
-Ben Shapiro, Breitbart.com
Since when does the private decision of an admittedly public figure about her gender identity become fodder for the presidential race? For a party that seems to care a whole lot about intrusion into one’s private life, this seems like an odd position to maintain. Unless someone still wants to justify his showering with women.
