Jenner’s courage is admirable

After months of speculation and scrutiny by the public, Bruce Jenner officially came out and announced his intent to transition into a woman last week in an ABC “20/20” interview with Diane Sawyer. In the two-hour interview, the 65-year-old former Olympian and now reality television star talked about his decades-long struggle with gender identity. The interview shed light on the world that an estimated 700,000 transgender Americans inhabit.

“For all intents and purposes, I am a woman,” he told Sawyer. “I was not genetically born that way, and as of now I have all the male parts…but I still identify as female.”

Instead of sensationalizing Jenner’s struggle and sensitive transition, the special was educational and carefully addressed all the aspects of the topic, such as the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity. Sexual orientation is defined as whom you go to bed with, while gender identity is whom you go to bed as.

Jenner will have his own reality television show on the E! Network highlighting his transition and new life as a woman. While much of reality television, such as his family’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and “Kourtney and Khloe Take the Hamptons” display some of celebrity’s vapid vanity, Jenner’s new show could be different. If handled sensitively – as the Diane Sawyer special was ­– ­it could be a needed window into the trans experience.

Hopefully the E! show — and viewers — will not undermine Jenner’s transition and upcoming life as a transgender woman because of his currently-known status as a reality television star. It was brave of Jenner to come out, and it is brave of him to publicly air such a sensitive time in his life. He may have inspired a lot of closeted transgender individuals to come out, and he may have saved a lot of lives.

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