Caitlyn Jenner faced an angry group of
protesters last week in Chicago.
Jenner encountered the demonstrators as
she was leaving the Hilton hotel, where she had participated in a
fundraising event for Chicago House, a nonprofit that offers social
services to transgender people.
Protester Monica James told the Chicago
Tribune that Jenner, who is white and wealthy, was not an
appropriate representative for transgender people.
“Make the services and make this
movement and this plea for trans tolerance intentional and direct for
the people who are facing the violence every day on the streets, the
people who are being discriminated against on the basis of their
gender and their race at the same time,” James said. “She can't
speak to those struggles.”
James, who held a sign that read,
“Liberation not miss-representation,” spoke briefly with Jenner
about her financial struggles. “I would love to see you have a
job. I love you,” Jenner reportedly replied.
On its Facebook page, the group quotes
Jenner, a Republican, making disparaging comments about people who
receive public assistance. “You don't want people to get totally
dependent on it. That's when they get into trouble. 'Why should I
work? You know, I've got a few bucks. I've got my room paid for,'”
Jenner said on her Bravo reality series I Am Cait.
Entertainment Tonight posted
video
from the protest, dubbed I Ain't Cait, in which a
protester at the event is heard calling Jenner “an insult to trans
people” and “an insult to women.”
B96 Chicago radio personality Showbiz
Shelly told Entertainment Tonight that Jenner's appearance was
a success.
“The chaos outside was a great
contrast to the uplifting atmosphere inside where Caitlyn had just
given her speech,” Shelly
said.
Also attending the event were actress
Candis Cayne, author-activist Jenny Boylan, author-playwright Kate
Bornstein and MMA fighter Fallon Fox.