Caitlyn Jenner's Espy Speech

And the LA Times article about the award from yesterday.

[quote]Is Caitlyn Jenner the wrong honoree for ESPYs' courage award?

It was a good speech but Brett Favre's face in the audience said it all, Caitlyn was not the best person for the award - and this doesn't make me anti-trans, it means as a sports fan, I think this is BS and other people were a better representation of what the award is about.

The Washington Post has a transcript of the whole speech & the video.

[quote]“You know, it is an honor to have the word ‘courage’ associated with my life. But tonight another word comes to mind and that is fortunate. I owe a lot to sports. It has shown me the world, it has given me an identity. If someone wanted to bully me, well, you know what? I was the MVP of the football team. That wasn’t going to be a problem. And the same thing goes tonight. If you want to call me names, make jokes, doubt my intentions, go ahead, because the reality is I can take it. But for the thousands of kids out there who are coming to terms with being true to who they are, they shouldn’t have to take it. (applause.)

I thought this part was interesting.

It's not the "fortunate" award. Leah Still's story moved me as did Danielle Green and Lauren Hill. People squaking about it being anti trans to say Caitlyn isn't deserving of the award should take a long look at the people who would have received the award if Caitlyn hadn't swooped in a few months ago.

That speech is bizarre.

Cracking a joke about how women have pressure on them to choose the right outfit? Har-dee-har-har.

He's never met a trans person until a few months ago? How is that possible? Taking aside his own journey, this is someone who has been living in the reality/entertainment world... how do you live in that world and never meet a trans person? He's either lying or this tells you a little something about just how sheltered and conservative his world really is. How did he decide to transition if he had never met a trans person til a few months ago? He was already taking hormones in the 80s... you can get that without any type of counseling that includes meeting a trans person?!

And remember, if you're wealthy and white enough, no matter what your gender, you too can murder someone with your car and get away with it.

She's a fucking Republican. So long as she supports a party that endorses the legal discrimination and social brutality that destroy queer lives and are leading queer kids to suicide in unforgivable numbers, Caitlyn Jenner can kiss my faggot ass. I don't care what she says, who she name-checks, and how many tears she sheds in front of an audience of her rich egotist peers.

There are three Caitlyn/ESPY threads so I don't know where to post this blind item.

[quote]While everyone was publicly smiling and very accepting of one of the featured recipients at the ESPY Awards, the unofficial chatter of those in attendance was quite the opposite!

[quote]There were a number of things that people were unhappy about. One prominent athlete was shaking his head and named a female athlete who he thought was more deserving of the award. Another was annoyed that the honoree “brought the plastic circus to town” with them.

[quote]Another was asked to be photographed with the honoree. He refused, saying that he didn’t want to “be part of their publicity stunt.” Another was whispering about how the award was “bought and paid for” and how it “takes the shine off” the event.

I'd never heard Caitlyn speak until I saw a clip of that speech. She's got Talulah Bankhead's voice... but not her wit.

I agree with previous posters who did not agree with C getting the award. Years of feminism attempted to rducate people that women are MORE than makeup, the body and the right clothes.

C is not a woman. A man of fucking incredible privilege who decided to take his journey publicly so he could save the world.

If he was truly a compassionate person who cared for his brood of overexposed twits, he would have quietly gone to another country for his "transition" so his kids would not have it shoved in their faces.

He wanted a Circus and sadly, people call him a hero for it,

R10 +1000.

Very well stated.

Gay people and Fraus very obviously hate transgenders. So much for an LGBT "community."

I liked the speech. Very thoughtful towards the suffering. It wasn't all about Caitlyn.

Many gays and lesbians look trans to me and to the outside world, so I for one am thrilled to see a big, broad-shouldered beauty of a woman!

He was a man when he was an athlete. So they honour Caitlyn who was never an athlete as a woman. Yippee!

And Caitlyn said "Trans," not transsexual--meaning anyone who is non-conformist gender-appearing.

Bravo!

The guy is walking around with a dick and running around in a dress

When Milton Berle did it he wasn't asking to be taken seriously. Anybody who has anything good to say about this joker is an imbecile.

If Caitlyn can be respected for her appearance choice then gays and lesbians should have it much easier.

Bruce Jenner as Charley's Aunt.

He should have finished with Once In Love With Amy.

In solidarity everyone could join in the repeat.

D.L. Hughley thinks Caitlyn Jenner "looks like every P.E. teacher I ever had," and says she wouldn't have been his choice to receive the ESPYs' Arthur Ashe Courage Award simply because she "put on a dress."

But he doesn't consider that bashing.

"I think that it's named after Arthur Ashe," the comic said of the award, speaking to a TMZ videographer Thursday on a New York Street. "Arthur Ashe from Richmond, Virginia, a symbol of courage. He fought [a] segregated South, a very segregated profession, he fought AIDS with dignity and honor, and Caitlyn Jenner put on a dress. I don't think it's the same thing."

R12, add "radical" feminists to your list, too.

That's pretty much all women: fraus, lesbians and radfems.

What does that tell you? Anything?

The women that you want to be reject you and there's nothing you can do about it.

[quote]Years of feminism attempted to rducate people that women are MORE than makeup, the body and the right clothes

I'm not a Jenner fan, but it's absolutely ludicrous that you're trying to make the case that she's harming feminist ideals.

The entire media-supported movement is harming feminist ideals, R21. The trans movement is full of gender essentialism, and you can go to any trans blog, any individual trans journal, see any trans public speaker on any level (i.e. just a few followers to someone who gets national attention) and see these transwomen talking repeatedly about their own glamorous appearance. Many of these same people say they are better than bio-women, or at least look better than bio-women.

The media follows suit, treating transwomen like great new models for their clothes, hair, makeup, etc.

Now, if transwomen are just like any other woman, then they are representing women, and we should approach their treatment in the media as such. And the media only cares about transwomen if they're famous and glammed up 24/7. It's sexist, but it's sexist in a way that the trans movement WANTS. This is how the trans movement wants transwomen to be presented in the media, but they don't have to deal with the criticism that bio-women get from both feminists and anti-feminists. They're trans. It's a "get out of jail free" card for them.

For now. I think a backlash is imminent, especially since Jenner is being called out for essentially buying the award for herself. Deals are done, sure, but a deal for, say, some whatever entertainment award is different than a deal for a humanitarian award.

The fact that Disney owns ABC and ESPN, and the fact that there was insider who claimed there was a quid-pro-quo deal (Sawyer interview for an ESPY) and the fact that the parent company is now claiming 'conspiracy theory!' all pretty much confirm something shady went on.

This is how the media works now, to advance its own corporate interests. Another example: my local news affiliates covered Scott Walker's lame campaign stop where he stood on a pickup truck in front of about 30 people. They have not covered AT ALL Bernie Sanders' campaign stops where he keeps attracting people across the spectrum.

Reason is simple: media is run by and owned by republicans and they advance their own agenda rather than reflecting the actual news on the ground, at least as far as politics goes. The way they did in Howard Dean and none of their lackeys questioned it is another glaring example from that playbook.

The fact that Caitlyn is a republican dovetails nicely with the gameplan.

Oh GOOD GRIEF what in the hell is the big deal about all of this??

You'd think the Apocalypse was bearing down on us all simply because he wears a dress and heels!

Who cares!

So what!

And I like that he is standing up for all of the weirdos--why does it offend you so much that Caitlyn's speech alerted the world to gay and trans bashing--shouldn't you all be against assaults?

You people remind me of the hysterics that blather on and on about reptilians that control the world and have secret meetings---get over it!

God, I wish this disgusting famewhore would go away. He is and always will be a man.

I wish he would just go away. I don't hate him or anything. I'm just tired of his droopy ass.

R21, no it's not.

R24...you know that women don't want transwomen in their restrooms.

You know that gender nonconforming kids are being encouraged to block their puberty and brain development for a lie.

You know that is homophobic.

Transgirls can complete in girls sports and join girls scouts. Transwomen got MichFest shut down.

There's nowhere women can be away from bio makes now.

Womanhood has been colonized. Homosexuality is being eradicated.

This is a big deal. And it's insane. History will prove it.

really? there are millions of mtf lurking in the bathrooms, and children everywhere must have hormone therapy?

I say it's such a tiny contingent that it's almost no threat, in reality. And screw the Girl Scouts.

Too bad about Michfest but it seems to me that it's demise was partly over the exhorbenant fees that priced many of the women out of the party. Michfest didn't end because of trans, it ended because it required work duty AND a high ticket price. That's a bad business model, especially when half the attendees have some kind of disability.

There are wierdo, dangeorus trans and there are sweet, kindly trans and some in between.

to label an entire group as dangerous and powerful is strange.

Nope, r29...it is the truth.

Autogynphilia is dangerous to women. Duh.

People are acting as if this is the Nobel Prize and Jenner is the wrong recipient.

It's the fucking ESPYs- who cares who won? We'll forget within the week

"Okay girls"? Why do so many MTFs trivialize womanhood? Being a woman has *nothing* to do with heels, flats, make-up or even long hair. This is all so incredibly superficial and I know very few women out of their teens who spend a ton of time stressing about it. Some enjoy fashion, some don't, but fashion and make-up don't determine your gender.

As a woman, I am really getting tired of transgender types trying to dictate what we're supposed to be. I don't think Caitlyn Jenner is trying to be offensive, but s/he really does come from a very male-centered view. (And then there's that lulu who wrote the crazy post about straight guys preferring trans women--i.e. a guy's view of how women should think and behave.) And, oh boy, if you disagree--the outrage, the shaming, the accusations. Watch one of Slate's writers try to shame Bob Costas for Costas gently suggesting that someone else besides Jenner might have deserved the ESPY award (Lauren Hill being a fine example).

Enough with the censorship and dictating of terms.

WTF???!!!

Who is "dictating" to you what you are supposed to be??!!!

No one.

No mtf is ordering you around--and so what if they want to dress up---Good LORD get a hobby!

This is still a gay site, right? You sound like all the redneck sports fans who are using this as an excuse to fly their flags of trans- and homophobia. AND IT'S A FUCKING ESPY AWARD. Who the fuck cares?

Sweetie--MTFs have done their best to shut down all sorts of dialogue--MichFest was just the latest in a long line. The only reason why it's not a bigger issue is that the Trans community is small. But the loudmouth segment of it is truly obnoxious--and incredibly unsupportive of women and the very serious issues of discrimination we still continue to face.

So quit being disingenuous--you know what I'm talking about.

R35, yes, I do, but I also know that there are mtf pro-women activists--you lie when you say they are all dangerous, or crazy!

I have met and worked with some nice trans, so don't deny me my opinion.

But I didn't say they were all dangerous or crazy. That's an excellent example, however, of how the distortion and shutdown of dialogue happens.

I said they were unsupportive and there was an obnoxious, loud-mouthed segment. It's nice you've met some supportive ones--though are you really in a position to know?

But, anyway, you deliberately distorted my objections into something extreme--makes it easier to feel self-righteous, no doubt. See, excellent example of "outrage" and "shaming"--with the intention that I'll either fluster around trying to defend myself, spew something truly ugly or go off. What we won't get is a genuine discussion about the techniques used by various trans activists to squelch debate.

R37, the loud, obnoxious segment are mentally ill. We all see that. There ARE crazy, dangerous trans out there. There are rapists, murdrers, and fucking weirdos.

And there are some very cool ones too.

I don't see any "cool" ones trying to address the inherent sexism of the majority of aggressive psycho ones.

And what is your opinion of Sharia Law?

[quote] don't see any "cool" ones trying to address the inherent sexism of the majority of aggressive psycho ones.

You can say the same about the "cool" Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and Christian fundies

I don't know how you could say an Olympic athlete is "the wrong person to win a sports award." Unless you have some other bias against that person.

Will it diminish the award further when her show is over and the media moves on, for her to change back into a guy and marry some young trophy wife?

R42, Jenner is the wrong person to win [italic]this particular award[/italic]. Do you know anything about the other people who were considered for the award before her announcement? Lauren Hill was an amazing person and what she did took a lot of strength and courage. She literally fought for her life, fulfilled her dream and raised cancer awareness before she passed away. She deserved more than the "best moment" award.

[quote]People squaking about it being anti trans to say Caitlyn isn't deserving of the award should take a long look at the people who would have received the award if Caitlyn hadn't swooped in a few months ago.

Lauren Hill would have received the award had Caitlyn not made her announcement a few months ago, this is nothing against Jenner or the trans community, it's about what the award used to represent. Anyone who doesn't know Lauren Hill's story should educate themselves.

[quote]Lauren Hill, the utterly courageous 19-year-old woman who battled inoperable brain cancer while playing basketball for Mount St. Joseph’s.

Before she died in April, Hill had achieved a dream of her own, scoring the first and last basket when Mount St. Joseph’s defeated Hiram College 66-55 on November 2014. The courageous young woman, knowing she wouldn’t survive, decided to use her notoriety to raise money for cancer research; by last November, she had raised $1 million for DIPC Cancer Research.

Lauren Hill DID get an award at the ESPYs. I believe the Arthur Ashe Award is reserved for pro athletes. But I could be wrong.

I know, I said she deserved better than the "Best Moment" Award, it was more than a mere moment.

The award isn't reserved for professional athletes only.

I thought Jenner was an amateur -- Olympics.

Poor Arthur Ashe must be spinning in his grave like a fucking top. He's probably three quarters of the way to China by now!

What's next on Bruce's agenda? Soliciting corporate sponsors for the First Annual Transgender Olympics? He can start with the Kardashisn and the Trump Empires.

Events will include:

1. 10K High Heel Run

2. 5K Ankle Lenght Pencil Skirt Run

3. Curling Iron and Flat Iron Toss

4. Sequined Flip Flop High Jump

5. High Heels Sneaker Long Jump

6. Bikini, Evening Gown, and Hot Pants Competitions

I thought the Ashe Ward was given to a person for a sports related accomplishment. If Jenner wasn't such a self absorbed Kardashian Style fame whore, he would have respectfully declined the award. That little four year old girl with cancer, the daughter of an NFL player was even far more deserving than Jenner.

I find Jenner totally appalling and disgusting.

R42 now there's a mild example of the tactics used to shut down real discussion. You claim that anyone who opposed Jenner getting the ESPY award could only do so out of some "bias" against Jenner, when, in fact, there was a young admirable athlete who played and raised a million bucks for a cancer charity while knowing she had a terminal diagnosis. At 19.

How is thinking Lauren Hill was the more deserving recipient of the two automatically a sign of bias? Did you even bother to find out about Lauren Hill before deciding that anyone who opposed Jenner getting the award must be biased?

R37, what R39 says. I'd be happy if someone from the trans community expressed serious concerns about, say, putting kids on puberty-blocking drugs and diagnosing very young children as trans when there are any number of reasons for a child to be gender-nonconforming. I'd be so much happier to the trans community support gender-nonconforming kids without trying to push that kid into a box. I'd be much happier if people in the trans community acknowledged the existence of borderline personality disorder, which can result in people who have a confused sense of gender identity, but who are really poor candidates for transitioning (and are also tragically prone to suicidal ideation).

Another vote for Lauren Hill. She is a real hero.

Jenner is no woman, he's just an ugly cunt.

As a gay man, I do not, and I never have, looked down on the transgender community. It was stated up thread that "fraus and gays hate the transgender". I'm appalled at some of the comments here and ask that those who likewise do not deign to judge others for their orientation to FF the crap out of those who do.

Please join me. Thanks!

R6 OJ Simpson is white?

Notoriety? Learn what the word means.

R52, if they gave the Ashe Award for being the sick kid of an athlete, that's all who would ever get it. You think she's the first/only one? She's just the only one who's been pimped out to such an extent.

I was 'outta there' when I started watching the video as soon as Caitlyn started with the 'challenging past few months' and proceeded into '.... picking this dress. I get it girls ....'

Ugh.

From the waist down Jenner is still all Bruce.

Why did they call it the Arthur Ashe award? Didn't Christine Jorgenson do it first?

Is Bruce back on estrogen ? His voice in that video didn't seem particularly different or more feminine (for the one minute I watched)

wow!

Bruce Jenner is just a media whore attempting to keep up with the Kartrashians.

She's not a role model. Her rich white male privilege allowed her to put on women's clothes and while I'm sure he went through some mental anguish, it was nothing compared to what poor transgender folks have to put up with...for Caitlyn, it's a cakewalk.

R55 he's got a dick and balls between his legs. He's a man in a dress. What about this can you not understand? I could put on lederhosen and claim I'm Austrian instead of a wop from Jersey.

This does not make me an Austrian. I honestly cannot understand how you people think. Believe it or not whatever I claim to be I'm still a wop from Jersey.

He wants his male sexuality yet want to be a role model for transsexuals and you people think it's worthy of admiration. Ok.

Women don't produce sperm R55.

Bruce is getting an award for being a crossdresser and he's never had to lip-synch for his life.

That is privilege.

Just glad my girl Ronda Rousey won for Best Female Athlete--beating out Serena Williams. If anyone's a tranny under that skirt, it's Serena! Oy vey.

R65, will you marry me?

It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.

The decadent phase of the empire.