Politics

Caitlyn Jenner Slams Tucker Carlson for His Comment About Transitioning

April 24th 2017

On Monday, Caitlyn Jenner sat down with Tucker Carlson — a timeslot that formerly belonged to Bill O'Reilly's show — on Fox News. And Jenner hit back at Carlson's previous statements about transitioning.

tucker carlson caitlyn jennerFox News

Beyond explaining the difference between gender and sexuality (who you go to bed as vs. who you go to bed with) and discussing some of the major issues facing the transgender community (high murder and suicide rates), Jenner called Carlson out over the host's pervious statements about transitioning for financial gain.

"You made a statement ‘Oh a guy of 35, all of the sudden…Oh hey, I’m trans. I’m going to go be a woman now and I’ll get federal funds for women’s issues,’" Jenner said, seemingly referring to Carlson's February interview with Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund Executive Director Jillian Weiss. "That’s bullshit. That does not happen. You are basically born this way. I’ve been dealing with these issues since I was this big [putting her hand up to show herself as a child]. It’s not just a whim."

Jenner also had a few things to say about President Donald Trump and his administration.

Carlson, who told Jenner she was "brave" for voting for Trump, asked her why she voted for the President.

"I'm on the Republican conservative side," Jenner explained. "... [Trump] looked like he would be pretty good on all LGBT issues."

The Fox News host asked Jenner in that case, why didn't she vote for Hillary Clinton, who was vocal in her LGBT support?

"Because I'm not a one issue voter," she responded. Jenner explained that she wants the Republican party to move closer to supporting LGBT issues, rather than try to get Democrats to want small government.

"My loyalties and what I'm fighting for is the LGBT community," Jenner added. "[T]hat's where my fight is." But today, Jenner is not impressed with Trump's first 100 days, saying he "kind of disappointed me."

"I sometimes get very disappointed with Trump," she continued, "especially when he went up against Title IX ... and Jeff Sessions has been very kind of anti-LGBT."

That's putting it lightly.

Title IX aims to prohibit discrimination on "the basis of sex ... under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." The Obama administration argued that Title IX also applied to gender identity, and issued guidelines to protect transgender students and allow them to use the facilities that matched their gender identity, according to Inside Higher Ed.

These guidelines (which had been halted by a federal judge due to a suit filed by several states) suffered a hit in February when Attorney General Jeff Sessions "changed course on months of appeals by the Obama administration, signaling a possible rollback of earlier attempts to expand federal protections to transgender students," Willie Burnley Jr. reported for ATTN:. Burnley Jr. explains:

"On his second day in office, Sessions withdrew a request initiated by the Obama administration to limit the federal judge’s injunction to only those states that sued against the order originally. Additionally, Sessions filed with the opposed states to end oral arguments for the order, meaning his Department of Justice no longer intends to speak in favor of these accommodations for transgender students."

Jenner has faced backlash from the LGBT community, for supporting Trump — though she says she's working for them.

"We need to protect all Americans, including my community," she told Carlson, ending her interview.

"I'm fighting for the next generation," she continued. "We have a lot of work to do."

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