Caitlyn Jenner is no stranger to criticism. But what she gets criticized for most isn’t necessarily what you might expect.
At a speaking engagement at University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday night, Jenner admitted that it’s her political beliefs, not her gender transition, that she gets the most criticism for, E! News reported. “I have gotten more flack for being a conservative Republican than I have for being trans,” she said at the event.
An unidentified student asked why Jenner wasn’t a Democrat, given that party’s support for LGBTQ rights. Jenner has previously said that she planned to keep voting Republican.
Buzz Bissinger, the author of the Vanity Fair piece in which Jenner came out as trans, was also present and defended her. "Just because you change gender doesn't mean you change your core beliefs,” he said.
The remaining six Republican presidential candidates have all been criticized by Human Rights Campaign for their opposition to rights for LGBTQ individuals on issues from marriage equality to discredited "conversion" therapies. According to the organization, Donald Trump, the current GOP frontrunner, has a mixed record — he has said that he supports so-called “traditional” marriage and that he believes federal law should protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
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