Transgender advocates praise debut of ‘I Am Cait’

Caitlyn Jenner, the Olympic athlete turned television celebrity, took on her newest role — transgender advocate — with the Sunday night debut of her reality TV show “I Am Cait,” finding a largely supportive audience among others in the movement for transgender rights.

“What a responsibility I have for this community,” she confessed to the camera during a sleepless night on the show’s first episode, which aired on the E! network. She worried whether she could really help children who struggle with their gender identity or trans people targeted with violence. “I hope I get it right,” she said.

The show follows Jenner during her first weeks living as a transgender woman, including interviews with her family members as they adjust to her newly expressed gender identity. Her mother, Esther Jenner, for example, supports the transition but was frank in describing her confusion. “My first feeling was, ‘I lost my son,’” she said during the episode. “But then I thought, ‘You know what? I’m gaining.’”

Transgender advocates praised the show as a thoughtful and genuine depiction of Caitlyn Jenner’s life that could help educate the public.

“‘I Am Cait’ was a sincere depiction of Caitlyn’s quest toward being seen for who she is,” Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, based in Washington, D.C., wrote in an email to Al Jazeera. “It also showed how sustaining and important family support can be to all people — and Caitlyn is fortunate that she seems to have family with boundless support.”

Jazz Jennings, a 14-year-old transgender girl who came out as a child and has become an LGBT advocate and YouTube star, expressed support for the show on Twitter, praising Jenner for “changing so many lives just by living her life authentically.”

Jenner sat down with the parents of Kyler Prescott, a 14-year-old transgender boy who committed suicide earlier this year. She lamented the prejudice that led Kyler to take his own life. “We need more tolerance and empathy for other people,” she said to the cameras after meeting the Prescotts. “It’s so hard for young people because they can’t see the future.”

Some from the transgender community, while supportive of Jenner, say “I Am Cait” presents a sanitized version of being transgender. A balloon-releasing ceremony honoring Kyler, for example, “feels like a photo op rather than a moment when Jenner fully connects with the suicide issue in the trans community,” Meredith Talusan, a transgender writer and activist, wrote in The Guardian. 

Still, rights advocates say Jenner’s celebrity gives her an opportunity to reach a wider audience with a message of tolerance. “Of course, that Caitlyn has hooks into reality television means she can hook into audiences she otherwise wouldn’t have been able to reach,” Keisling said. “But I don’t doubt that they will walk away feeling a little more empathetic and understanding of our lives and our families.”