Caitlyn Jenner was once a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump when he was campaigning for the White House but her views on the 45th president have drastically changed. The reality star admitted to being wrong in her previous advocating of Trump as well as her beliefs that he would benefit the LGBTQ community in America, she wrote in a Thursday op-ed published by The Washington Post.
"I believed I could work within the party and the Trump administration to shift the minds of those who most needed shifting. I made many trips to Washington to lobby and educate members of Congress, other Washington policymakers and powerful influencers," Jenner wrote. "These meetings were generally positive and almost always led to encouraging conversations. Despite the criticism I received from segments of the LGBTQ community for engaging with this administration, I remained hopeful for positive change."
Jenner added: "Sadly, I was wrong."
The former Keeping Up With the Kardashians star said Trump has been more destructive to the LGBTQ community since taking office in 2016. "The reality is that the trans community is being relentlessly attacked by this president," she wrote.
"The leader of our nation has shown no regard for an already marginalized and struggling community," Jenner continued. "He has ignored our humanity. He has insulted our dignity. He has made trans people into political pawns as he whips up animus against us in an attempt to energize the most right-wing segment of his party, claiming his anti-transgender policies are meant to 'protect the country.' This is politics at its worst. It is unacceptable, it is upsetting, and it has deeply, personally hurt me."
Jenner called her efforts to work with the Trump administration "a mistake" and criticized the president for his pursuits against LGBTQ rights, including the recently leaked Department of Health and Human Services document that requested the government to define a person's gender based on their genitalia at birth, as well as Trump's ban on trans soldiers and his reversal of former President Barack Obama's protections for trans schoolchildren.
"It's clear these policies have come directly from Trump, and they have been sanctioned, passively or actively, by the Republicans by whose continued support he governs. My hope in him—in them—was misplaced, and I cannot support anyone who is working against our community," Jenner wrote. "I do not support Trump. I must learn from my mistakes and move forward."
Despite renouncing her support of Trump, Jenner said she would continue to advocate for LGBTQ rights and "educate political and corporate leaders" on various afflictions affecting "our long-ignored community" including matters of job discrimination, violence, access to health care, suicide and depression, housing prejudices and homelessness.
"I was wrong" to back Trump, Caitlyn Jenner writes for The Post. "He has ignored our humanity" and used transgender people as pawns. https://t.co/zUkP4CZZ0m
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 25, 2018
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