MSNBC’s Joy Reid says Caitlyn Jenner doesn’t represent trans community

OPINION:

MSNBC’s Joy Reid took aim at Caitlyn Jenner, saying she “does not speak for the trans community.”

Ms. Jenner, a former Olympic athlete who came out as transgender in 2015, spurred Ms. Reid’s rebuke after she said she opposed biological boys who are trans competing in girls’ sports in school.

“It just isn’t fair, and we have to protect girls’ sports in our schools,” Ms. Jenner, who is running as a Republican to oust Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in California’s upcoming recall election, told TMZ last week.

If Ms. Jenner doesn’t speak for the trans community, then just who does, Ms. Reid?

It’s certainly not Ms. Reid.

In the mid-to-late 2000s, Ms. Reid posted several homophobic blog posts, of which she had to apologize. At the time she said she didn’t “believe” she actually wrote the post and claimed without evidence her account may have been hacked.

Her now-defunct blog, the Reid Report, suggested Tom Cruise, Karl Rove and Chief Justice John Roberts’ son were all gay. She claimed “most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing,” and that “adult gay men tend to be attracted to very young, post-pubescent types.” She even questioned herself, acknowledging, “Does that make me homophobic? Probably.”

In 2018, when the posts resurfaced, Ms. Reid was defiant, saying they were the work of hackers to “taint” her character. The FBI was even contacted. Nothing was uncovered. Her cover-up story was widely disbelieved. But, because she’s a progressive Democrat and Black woman, she wasn’t canceled — she kept her job at MSNBC and continues to spew hate at her political enemies.

This week, it was Ms. Jenner. Ms. Reid invited a liberal, transgender activist to help her trash the Republican gubernatorial candidate.

“Every marginalized community has members that work against the equality of that community,” guest Charlotte Clymer explained to Ms. Reid. “Every community has that. For trans folks, Caitlyn Jenner is the Phyllis Schlafly of the trans community. That’s who she is.”

Ms. Schlafly famously advocated for pro-family values in the 1970s, campaigning against the Equal Rights Amendment.

Ms. Clymer said Jenner “has always worked against LGBTQ equality.”

The issue of having biological boys compete with biological girls in high school sports has come into the forefront of the culture wars after President Biden signed an executive order allowing student-athletes to compete on the sports teams they most identify with. 

Conservative states are pushing back against the measure, with bills banning transgender girls competing on girls’ sports teams enacted in Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed an executive order to the same effect.