Last night, Caitlyn Jenner joined Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, whose memoir, “The Secrets Of My Life,” was released today. Jenner, the former Olympic athlete who came out as transgender in 2015, had also gained considerable attention due to her political beliefs. She’s a self-described conservative Republican, which is viewed as anathema in the gay community.
Jenner reminded Tucker that she was never outwardly supportive of Donald Trump’s candidacy—the media did that for her—but she did say that she veers towards the conservative side. When Trump won the Republican nomination, she said she was going to vote for him. The former Olympian also said that she thought Trump would be good for LGBT issues. Yet, she also said that her loyalties aren’t with President Trump or the Republican Party, they’re with the LGBT community. On that front, she said that he’s a disappointment.
.@Caitlyn_Jenner: I thought @POTUS would be pretty good [on LGBT issues] but he's kind of disappointed me in the first hundred days. #Tucker pic.twitter.com/asGGwtdgX7
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 25, 2017
Some of the issues Jenner is passionate about are the murder rates among trans people, where she said it’s high; along with the suicide rate that's nine times higher than the general public. She stressed that it’s important to protect every American, adding that most homicides of trans persons are cast aside by the authorities and not fully investigated. Still, she wants the GOP to do a better job at addressing these issues.
Besides the criticism that the Trump White House has fallen short with regards to LGBT issues, Jenner added that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been kind of anti-LGBT. She also voiced opposition and concern about Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of the Army, Tennessee State Sen. Mark Green, whose anti-LGBT comments have been unearthed. Jenner said that Green has called her a diseased person.
Regarding her identity, Jenner said, It’s not something that’s "just a whim,” adding that she’s been dealing with being transgender since she was very young.
So, with all of this, why not just support the Democratic Party? Jenner said it’s because she’s not a single-issue voter. Besides LGBT issues, she also believes in limited government and the Constitution. Given how the LGBT community reacts to conservatives, you can see why this probably would not have been possible. She repeated that it was more difficult coming out as a Republican than transgender.
In the end, for Ms. Jenner, she said, "I would rather convince the Republican Party to do a better job when it comes to all LGBT issues than to try to convince the Democrats to lower taxes and lower regulations and let our country thrive economically."