Caitlyn Jenner announced Friday morning that she would be running for Governor of California. In a statement posted to her social media, Jenner said she took issue with California’s restrictive lockdown and the high taxes.
I’m in! California is worth fighting for. Visit https://t.co/a1SfOAMZQ3 to follow or donate today. #RecallNewsom pic.twitter.com/9yCck3KK4D
— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) April 23, 2021
Since the announcement, she has been met with a lot of criticism and very little support, even from LGBT groups.
Jenner is running as a Republican and had shown support for former President Trump in the past. She later criticized the Trump administration for discriminating against transgender people and walked back her support of him. But still, some people expressed their distrust of her politics.
“Make no mistake: we can’t wait to elect a #trans governor of California,” tweeted the group, Equality California. “But @Caitlyn_Jenner spent years telling the #LGBTQ+ community to trust Donald Trump. We saw how that turned out. Now she wants us to trust her? Hard pass.”
Make no mistake: we can’t wait to elect a #trans governor of California.
But @Caitlyn_Jenner spent years telling the #LGBTQ+ community to trust Donald Trump. We saw how that turned out. Now she wants us to trust her?
Hard pass. @StopRepRecall pic.twitter.com/0zMw2HURNG
— Equality California (@eqca) April 23, 2021
Jennifer Finney Boylan, a transgender writer and professor at Barnard College, said she considers Jenner a friend, but disagrees with her politics.
Wyatt Ronan of the Human Rights Campaign, a major national LGBTQ-rights organization, said Jenner “is not the leader California needs.”
“Her support of Donald Trump, the most virulent and vocal anti-LGBTQ president in American history, and her decision to hire Trump’s inner circle for her campaign are just two examples why,” he said.
David Badash, editor of an LGBTQ-oriented news and opinion site The New Civil Rights Movement, said that Jenner’s campaign website lacked information about her platform and the issues. He said it only had designated places to shop or to donate to her campaign.
Badash also questioned why Jenner would run as a Republican at a time when GOP legislators in more than 20 states have been pushing bills aimed at curtailing transgender youths’ ability to play school sports and receive gender-affirming medical care.
Jenner’s family, the reality famous Kardashian clan, has been noticeably silent about the news. Not even Jenner’s daughters Kylie Jenner and Kendall Jenner have said anything about it.
Some activists welcomed Jenner’s announcement, saying it was further evidence that transgender Americans are running for office more frequently.
“Voters want leaders who will deliver results for their communities, no matter who they are,” said Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen of the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund.
Attorney Sasha Buchert, co-director of the Transgender Rights Project at the LGBTQ-rights group Lambda Legal, said when the public sees transgender people in public life it “serves to expand public awareness of the reality and diversity of trans lives.”
“It matters to us what policies candidates support — and what their track record might be — on a full range of issues, not just trans rights and inclusion,” Buchert said. “That is the lens one should always use in evaluating any candidate, including Caitlyn Jenner.”
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