Caitlyn Jenner withdrew support for President Donald Trump in an op-ed Thursday, abandoning previous hope that the president could bring positive change to the LGBTQ community.
“My hope in him — in them [the Republican Party] — was misplaced, and I cannot support anyone who is working against our community,” Jenner wrote in a Thursday column for The Washington Post. “I do not support Trump.”
Jenner “saw fertile ground for change within the Republican Party on LGBTQ issues,” following Trump’s election, but that outlook “has changed significantly,” according to the column. Jenner wrote that the Trump administration’s proposal to define gender according to biology represents another harmful attack against the transgender community.
.@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/JdZn1zCQmg
— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) October 22, 2018
“He [Trump] 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,” Jenner wrote. (RELATED: TIME Compares Trump’s Transgender Policy To System Justifying Slavery)
The op-ed follows a Sunday report indicating the Trump administration will define gender as determined “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable,” according to a memo obtained by The New York Times, and would define gender as either female or male, according to the person’s genitalia at birth.
Caitlyn Jenner arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, February 2016. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok
“Sex means a person’s status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth,” the memo reads, according to TheNYT.
The proposed definition is “just one more example in a pattern of political attacks,” according to Jenner.
Bruce Jenner arrives at the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, April 2009. REUTERS/Steve Marcus
Since former President Barack Obama loosened the definition of Title IX, divisive battles have been fought over which bathroom students can use in school as well as what sports teams they can play on.
Some companies have adopted plans covering the cost of therapies and surgeries for transgender and transitioning employees. (RELATED: Transgender Actor Writes Open Letter To President Trump. Here’s What It Says)
The Department of Health and Human Services will present the new definition of gender to the Department of Justice by January 2019, according to Trump administration officials.
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