Caitlyn Jenner has been slammed for supporting Donald Trump as the president is set to sign off a new raft of orders impacting the LGBTQ+ community.
President Trump was inaugurated for the second time in Washington, D.C. on Monday (January 20), joined by wife and first lady Melania, as well as some of the biggest names in technology including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok CEO Shou Zi.
Jenner is a long-time Republican supporter, having attended fundraising events for Trump’s 2024 election campaign and even his election night party.
The former Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete announced in 2015 that she was a trans woman.
Among the hundreds of executive orders he’s ushering in, Trump is clamping down on the rights of transgender people as he winds back many of Joe Biden’s previous policies which promoted diversity and equality.
Trump’s orders affecting LGBTQ+ people
In his inaugural address, Trump declared he will ‘end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life’.
“We will forge a society that is color blind and merit-based. … As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female,” he said.
So, the US government will use the term ‘sex’ rather than ‘gender,’ while ordering that identification documents issued by the government, including passports and visas, be based on what it described as ‘an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female’.
Trump said the use of male and female would be ‘unchangeable.’
He then repealed 78 executive orders signed by Biden, including measures ‘supporting racial equity and combating discrimination against gay and transgender people.’ Another combatted discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.
Trump’s administration is also looking to limit the scope of the 2020 US Supreme Court ruling, Bostock v Clayton County, which – in a major victory for transgender rights – the high court found civil rights protections against discrimination ‘on the basis of sex’ applied to sexuality and gender identity.
And during Sunday’s pre-inauguration rally, Trump vowed to ‘keep all men out of women’s sports.’
Backlash to Jenner’s comments
Despite all this, Jenner took to X to celebrate Trump’s inauguration by writing: “Congratulations Mr. President. Thanks be to God!” with three US flag emoijs.
The post has since been viewed 30 million times, and many people were critical.
One person wrote: “Yet he wants to take away your rights to be a trans woman,” as a second added: “He literally just ordered for you to not exist…”
“Boy oh boy, wait till you hear about the bill he just signed,” a third commented.
A fourth chipped in: “How can you be a transgender and still support someone that thinks the only two genders are male and female and basically wants to erase all the struggle you’ve been through.”
UNILAD has contacted Caitlyn Jenner’s representatives for a comment.
