Add Caitlyn Jenner to the growing list of celebrities and media personalities speaking out against President Donald Trump’s reported plan to narrow the legal definition of gender.
The former Olympian and transgender icon deemed the White House proposal “an unacceptable attack on my community” in a Tuesday interview.
“The Trump administration has ferociously attacked my community again,” Jenner told People. She also criticized Trump’s repeated attempts to ban trans recruits from the U.S. military, noting, “Just as an FYI Mr. President— the military is the single largest employer of trans people in the world.”
She added: “We will not be erased!”
Jenner, 68, joins Laverne Cox, Alexandra Billings and other trans-identifying stars in speaking out against the reported Trump plan, outlined in an Oct. 21 New York Times article. The report cited a leaked Department of Health and Human Services memo that suggests redefining gender “on a biological basis” as either male or female, and determined by genitalia at birth.
As many LGBTQ advocates have pointed out, such a plan would have devastating legal repercussions for the transgender and gender-nonconforming communities ― particularly in regard to health care and employment rights.
Jenner, a Republican who backed Trump during the 2016 election and attended his inauguration, has wavered in her public take on the president in recent months. She originally said she was hopeful about Trump, who vowed on the campaign trail that he would help LGBTQ people. In July 2017, she told “The View” she was working behind the scenes with members of Trump’s Cabinet with regard to queer rights.
Since taking office, however, the president has rolled back protections for transgender students, and been vocal in his efforts to impose a trans military ban. Jenner in March called the administration the “worst ever” for transgender issues.
“They’ve set our community back 20 years, easily,” she told Newsweek. “It’s going to be hard to change, but we’ve been through these types of things before, and we’ll continue to fight it.”
She hardened that stance in an August interview with Variety, calling Trump’s presidency “extremely disappointing.”
“I honestly don’t know what happened when he got in there,” she said. “He’s not been doing a very good job, but it’s not over yet.”