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Caitlyn Jenner delivers powerful speech at ESPYs: ‘Trans people deserve respect’
Caitlyn Jenner delivered a powerful 10-minute speech at ESPY Awards on Wednesday (15 July) night in Los Angeles that brought the former Olympian to tears.
Jenner, 65, was given a standing ovation as she walked on stage to accept the Arthur Ashe Courage Award in what was her first major public appearance as a transgender woman.
After pleading with the fashion police to go easy on her and giving a shout out to the US women’s soccer team (‘Ladies, you clean up very well’), Jenner assumed a more serious tone.
The reality TV star said until a few months ago, she had never met another transgender person.
‘I dealt with my situation on my own in private and that turned this journey into an already incredible education,’ she said.
‘It’s been eye-opening, inspiring, but also frightening.’
But Jenner said that journey is even more frightening for youths.
‘All across this country, right now, all across the world, at this very moment, there are young people coming to terms with being transgender,’ she said.
‘They’re getting bullied, they’re getting beaten up, they’re getting murdered and they’re committing suicide.’
She then paid tribute to transgender teenagers Mercedes Williamson, who was murdered in Alabama last month, and Sam Taub, who died by suicide in Michigan in April.
Jenner said her transition had ‘been harder on me than anything I could ever imagine.’
‘For that reason alone, trans people deserve something vital,’ she said.
‘They deserve your respect. And from that respect, comes a more compassionate community, a more empathetic society and a better world for all of us.’
Watch her speech in full below:
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Darren Wee
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