Caitlyn Jenner Gets Transphobic Abuse at Right-Wing Gathering

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A video circulated of someone calling Jenner a "sick freak" and deadnaming her at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

July 12 2021 2:21 PM EST

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Caitlyn Jenner, who's running as a Republican for governor of California, was the target of transphobic abuse at this weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas.

In a video shared on social media, a heckler can be heard deadnaming the transgender politician, calling her a "sick freak," and asking, "What do you think about the stuff they're teaching [in] schools about LGBT?"

\u201cCaitlyn Jenner being called \u201cBruce\u201d and chased out of CPAC Dallas. Afterwards, one CPAC attendee refers to Caitlyn as \u201ctr*nny\u201d multiple times.\u201d
— Resist Programming \ud83d\udef0 (@Resist Programming \ud83d\udef0) 1625887296

Jenner, a former Olympic athlete and reality TV star, is seeking to become California's governor if voters recall the current officeholder, Democrat Gavin Newsom. But her campaign has attracted little support.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a noted transphobe, followed up Monday with a tweet urging Californians to reject Jenner, calling her a "man in a dress." Holly McCormack, a Democrat challenging Republican Greene for her Georgia congressional seat, responded with a condemnation of anti-trans bigotry.

The only prominent conservative to defend Jenner after the attack at CPAC was Fox News host Tomi Lahren, who tweeted, "The way she lives her personal life harms you in no way."

\u201cHearing how some \u201cconservatives\u201d treated @Caitlyn_Jenner at CPAC makes my blood boil. There\u2019s no room for your hate in the America First movement. We believe in freedom and we believe in limited government. The way she chooses to live her personal life harms you in no way!\u201d
— Tomi Lahren (@Tomi Lahren) 1626063278

The star of CPAC was Donald Trump, who "bathed in the adulation of an adoring crowd" when he appeared Sunday, CNN reports. He won an informal straw poll as the candidate attendees would most like to run for president in 2024, and many of them appear to be clinging to the myth that he won the 2020 presidential election.