Caitlyn Jenner heads out to Starbucks ahead of Hannity interview

Caitlyn Jenner was seen heading out for coffee in Malibu ahead of an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. 

The former Olympian wore a floral skirt and a black top for a Monday trip to Starbucks, where she reportedly met with a businessman. 

The sighting came two days after Jenner, who is transgender, said she did not believe ‘biological boys who are trans’ should compete in girls’ sports in school, prompting backlash. 

Jenner is due to appear in a one-on-one interview with Hannity on Wednesday in what will be her first major TV appearance since announcing last month that she will run for the GOP in the gubernatorial California recall.

The former Olympian wore a floral skirt and a black top for a Monday trip to Starbucks, where she reportedly met with a businessman

The sighting came two days after Jenner, who is transgender, said she did not believe ‘biological boys who are trans’ should compete in girls’ sports in school, prompting backlash

In a brief interview with TMZ while she was getting into her car on Saturday, Jenner said she did not support trans girls competing in school sports.

‘This is a question of fairness, that’s why I oppose 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,’ she said.  

When asked by the reporter whether it ‘delegitimized the identity of trans girls’, Jenner cut the talk short and replied: ‘Have a good day.’

After the TMZ article was published, Jenner shared it on Twitter and said she ‘didn’t expect to get asked this’ on her Saturday morning coffee run.

‘But I’m clear about where I stand. It’s an issue of fairness and we need to protect girls’ sports in our schools,’ she wrote. 

Jenner gave a brief interview with TMZ in Malibu as she was getting into her car on Saturday

Jenner, who recently announced her bid to run for Governor of California , said: ‘This is a question of fairness’

She said she opposes ‘biological boys who are trans competing in girls’ sports in school’

When asked by the reporter whether it ‘delegitimized the identity of trans girls’, she cut the conversation short

After the TMZ article was published, Jenner shared it on Twitter and said she ‘didn’t expect to get asked this’ on her Saturday morning coffee run

Jenner’s comments came as multiple states, most recently Florida, moved towards banning transgender girls and women from playing on public sports teams.

Jenner, 71, is a registered Republican and voted for Trump in 2016 but not in 2020, in protest against his position on transgender issues.  

But her opposition to trans girls competing in girls’ sports has angered some members of the LGBTQ+ community, who have said they won’t back her ‘vanity campaign’ for governor.

‘Caitlyn Jenner is no friend of the LGBTQ community. Don’t call her an activist. She’s a menace,’ Star Trek actor and activist George Takei wrote in a Twitter post. 

‘in school we’re doing a debate on the caitlyn jenner thing and my teacher put me on the side that sides with her and i will literally scream bye i have zero points ***** is dumb,’ another Twitter user wrote. 

‘We get it. You’re trying to get the evangelical trump votes. But like wow what a sellout,’ Director Fawzia Mirza wrote. 

‘Medical organizations, feminist organizations, and prominent cis women athletes, including Billie Jean King and Megan Rapinoe, have all spoken out against banning trans girls from sports,’ writer Charlotte Clymer posted.

‘There is no evidence this is a problem anywhere. Caitlyn Jenner is dead wrong on this.’

Others have supported Jenner’s comments, with TV personality Piers Morgan writing: ‘Good for her. Courageous and correct. If anyone understands how unfair it is, then it’s surely @Caitlyn_Jenner. Yet she will new be destroyed by the trans lobby for stating the obvious.’

Jenner is a controversial figure in the LGBTQ+ community, many of whom despair over her conservative views, while acknowledging that her fame brought increased visibility to trans people following her 2015 announcement that she was trans. 

Confirmation of Jenner’s run for the GOP candidacy sparked an instant backlash among the American public, celebrities and the LGBTQ+ community. 

Many people took to social media to say it is a ‘hard pass’ that they would vote for her while the phrase ‘HELL NO’ began trending. 

Jenner’s campaign team includes controversial Trump aides such as Tony Fabrizio, a pollster who worked on both of Trump’s campaigns, and Brad Parscale. Steven Cheung has also been tapped as a campaign adviser.

The recall election for California governor comes amid growing calls by Republicans to oust Governor Gavin Newsom.

If a Republican wins, it will be the first time since 2003, when Arnold Schwarzenegger won.

Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, former U.S. Rep. Doug Ose and businessman John Cox, who lost to Newsom in the 2018 governor’s race, are also running. 

Jenner said she does not believe ‘biological boys who are trans’ should compete in girls’ sports in school [File photo]

Jenner recently announced her bid to run to be the GOP candidate for Governor of California in the state’s recall

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed a bill into law on Wednesday banning transgender athletes from competing in girl’s sports. 

When asked about it by MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle, Justice did not appear able to come up with a single example of a transgender athlete gaining an unfair advantage in sports in his state. 

‘Can you name one example of a transgender child trying to gain an unfair competitive advantage at a school there in West Virginia?’ Ruhle asked Justice.

‘Well, Stephanie, I don’t have that experience exactly to myself right now,’ Justice replied. 

Ruhle pushed further: ‘Not yourself, your state, sir. Can you give me one example of a transgender child trying to get an unfair advantage? Just one, in your state. You signed a bill about it.’

Previously known as Bruce Jenner, the reality star won a gold medal for decathlon in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal

Jenner said: ‘This is a question of fairness, that’s why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls’ sports in school.’ Pictured in this February 2019 photo are transgender athletes Terry Miller, second from left, and Andraya Yearwood, left

Cece Telfer, the first openly transgender woman to win an NCAA title, is pictured left. Transgender high school athlete Andraya Yearwood is pictured right

According to the Human Rights Campaign, West Virginia is one of at least 30 states that has introduced a slate of more than 200 ‘discriminatory, anti-LGBTQ legislation this session.’

‘Of those, 120 directly target transgender people and about half of those (66 bills) would, like HB 329, ban transgender girls and women from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity,’ the Human Rights Campaign said.

‘Legislators across the country have failed to provide examples of issues in their states to attempt to justify these attacks, laying bare the reality that these are attacks on transgender youth that are fueled by discrimination and not supported by fact, the campaign said. 

Just one day later, the Florida Senate adopted an anti-transgender House amendment to SB 1028, an education related bill now headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis – who has said he will sign the bill into law.

‘Under the guise of an education bill, the Florida House and Senate rushed to pass SB 1028. Ultimately, this bill will not just hurt transgender kids; it will hurt all Floridians,’ the Human Rights Campaign said.

‘Because the consequences of this law — economic harm, expensive taxpayer-funded legal battles, and a tarnished reputation — will ripple across the state.’ 

Last Friday, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a similar bill into law. Alabamans may also soon face felony charges for providing trans minors with hormone therapy, puberty blockers and surgery.

Alabama’s Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act has been sent to the House where a companion bill has already passed a committee, CBS reported.

Violators could face felony charges with up to 10 years in prison or a $15,000 fine if signed into law. It would go into effect 30 days after it is signed by Ivey. 

According to the bill’s text, ‘no person shall engage in, counsel, make a referral for, or cause’ treatments to any person under the age of 19 to ‘affirm the minor’s perception of his or her gender or sex.’

The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Shay Shelnutt, does not seem to specifically target medical workers providing the treatments. The bills’ text defines a person as ‘any individual.’

It also targets school officials, forcing them ‘to provide for disclosure of certain information concerning students to parents,’ specifically ‘the fact that the minor’s perception of his or her gender or sex is inconsistent with the minor’s sex.’

The bill’s text also has an ambiguous line noting that medical workers cannot ‘remove any healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue,’ without specificity on whether that provision applies just to genitalia.

However, the bill makes exceptions for people ‘born with a medically verifiable disorder of sex development’ such as being ‘born with external biological sex characteristics that are irresolvably ambiguous.’

In 2020, at least 37 transgender and gender non-conforming people were victims of fatal violence which is ‘more than the Human Rights Campaign has recorded in any other year,’ according to the advocacy group.

The Human Rights Campaign has tracked 202 cases of fatal violence against transgender and gender nonconforming people across 30 states and 113 cities in the United States since 2013. 

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, two new studies on suicide found an increase in suicide attempts ‘by black teens and higher rates of attempts among transgender teens than their peers.’

Advocacy groups fear that banning trans athletes from competing in girls sports will lead to a rise in suicides.  

Protestors in support of transgender rights march around the Alabama State House in Montgomery recently

Protesters said a bill proposed in Alabama bans surgeries in the state, which already are not performed on minors

Many states are pushing for bans on trans athletes competing in women’s sports at the same time they are introducing bills to prevent gender-affirming treatment for trans girls, including hormone therapy. Some studies suggest that any advantage trans female athletes may have levels out when they begin hormone therapy.

Arkansas bill HB 1570, named the Arkansas Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act (SAFE), was vetoed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson but the veto was overridden days later.

In Connecticut, one of just 17 states that allows high school athletes to compete in sports according to their gender identity without regulation, three high school track athletes have filed a lawsuit to block transgender athletes from competing.

The girls, who lost state titles to transgender athletes in 2018, claimed they were forced to compete against two transgender sprinters.

President Joe Biden has signed an executive order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation that expanded on last year’s Supreme Court Bostock v. Clayton County ruling. which protected LGBTQ+ people in the workplace.

‘It is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex,’ the court opinion reads.

Biden’s order called on the head of each agency to consult with the Attorney General to review ‘all existing orders, regulations, guidance documents, policies, programs’ that relate to compliance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The order also called on officials to ‘consider whether to revise, suspend, or rescind’ agency actions or enact new agency actions ‘as necessary to fully implement statutes that prohibit sex discrimination.’

Alanna Smith (center), who filed the lawsuit with fellow athletes Selina Soule (left) and Chelsea Mitchell (right) appeared on Fox News with her lawyer to say girls have ‘missed out’ on placing on awards podiums after competing against ‘biological males’

‘Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports,’ Biden wrote in the order.

On the Trans Day of Visibility on March 31, Biden issued a proclamation praising transgender individuals and communities who have fought for ‘an increasingly accepting world.’

‘Peers at school, teammates and coaches on the playing field, colleagues at work, and allies in every corner of society are standing in support and solidarity with the transgender community,’ Biden said.