If anyone in the greater Kardashian/Jenner clan broke the Internet, it was Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce). When she made her debut on the cover of Vanity Fair yesterday, social media exploded.
And the response was overwhelmingly supportive: Caitlyn herself joined Twitter (earning a record one million followers in four hours) and Facebook, and the hashtag #CallMeCaitlyn began trending almost immediately. Celebrities from Kerry Washington to Jesse Tyler Ferguson offered up words of encouragement, and the transgender community was no exception.
RELATED: Caitlyn Jenner: 'I'm a Better Person Than Bruce.'
While many in the transgender community spoke about the opportunities Caitlyn has created for others and just gave all-out kudos, some pointed out that she has more resources and a stronger support network than many transgender men and women.
Here is the response from a small sampling of the transgender community, in their own words:
Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox, via Tumblr:
“I am so moved by all the love and support Caitlyn is receiving. It feels like a new day, indeed, when a trans person can present her authentic self to the world for the first time and be celebrated for it so universally. Many have commented on how gorgeous Caitlyn looks in her photos, how she is ‘slaying for the gods.’ I must echo these comments in the vernacular, Yasss Gawd! Werk Caitlyn! Get it!’
...Most trans folks don’t have the privileges Caitlyn and I now have. It is those trans folks we must continue to lift up, get them access to healthcare, jobs, housing, safe streets, safe schools, and homes for our young people. We must lift up the stories of those most at risk, statistically trans people of color who are poor and working class. I have hoped over the past few years that the incredible love I have received from the public can translate to the lives of all trans folks. Trans folks of all races, gender expressions, ability, sexual orientations, classes, immigration status, employment status, transition status, genital status etc. I hope, as I know Caitlyn does, that the love she is receiving can translate into changing hearts and minds about who all trans people are as well as shifting public policies to fully support the lives and well being of all of us. The struggle continues...”
Janet Mock, author, advocate, and host of SoPOPular! on MSNBC:
Let's celebrate Caitlyn & use her moment to uplift trans folks facing insurmountable economic barriers for affirming healthcare.
— Janet Mock (@janetmock) June 1, 2015
Nick Adams, GLAAD’s director of programs, transgender media:
"For a transgender person to step into the world as his or her authentic self is a moment of tremendous freedom. The world can now see what Caitlyn Jenner has always known, that she is—and always has been—a woman.
Transgender comedian Ian Harvie:
Hey @Caitlyn_Jenner welcome to the Twittersphere.. and well.. everything! You look like.. YOU!!!!! Bear hugs!
— Ian Harvie (@ianharvie) June 1, 2015
RELATED: See the First Photo of Caitlyn Jenner, Formerly Known as Bruce
Trangender reporter Zoey Tur on CNN:
“This is a highly professional rollout of a product. And it was all timed…for sweeps. This is all highly produced. You’ve got to hand it to Jenner’s camp. This is brilliant marketing. For anyone to say that this is a transgender person moving at their pace is absurd.”
Tiq Milan, writer and advocate:
January Hunt, Brooklyn-based artist, writer, and musician:
“I am happy for Caitlyn as an individual with an internal struggle that she is now overcoming with the specific intention of actualizing her own self. I believe anyone with the ability, who takes agency of their own body and who examines themselves by digging through the darkest parts of their history and identity, is an incredible survivor. That is the part of me that feels immense gratitude for people like Caitlyn Jenner sharing their story so publicly. When I started transitioning and when I was a teenager, there were no trans women on TV or gracing the covers of magazines. I looked up to people who I read about in books; folks who weren't still alive.
That said, when a white woman from the most sensationalized family in the western world, with more resources than any trans woman I have ever known, follows a prescribed medical narrative for trans women, it is hard for me to not think about the people who don't have this kind of access. It is hard for me to think of how many trans women of color died this year and how there are more obituaries than magazine covers or ‘success’ stories; how 41 percent of trans people attempt suicide because they don't have access to this kind of healthcare or support; how many trans women I have known or read about who died by their own hands because that seemed like the best way out. I think of the struggle to access certain affirming surgeries I have longed for—struggles that money and the medical industrial complex have both prevented me from having access to actualize MY own self.
These things are complicated. I am happy to see them happening, but I don't want Caitlyn Jenner's story to define a trans narrative. Her story is hers. Mine is mine. The millions of trans lives out there all have individual stories, many of which may never survive to have them heard.”
RELATED: Bruce Jenner Tells Daughters That “Bruce” Will No Longer Exist by Spring
Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund on MSNBC:
"Congratulations to Caitlyn, how remarkable. She looks positively radiant. And I use that word in the literal sense. In the video that accompanied the cover, Caitlyn spoke so movingly about the struggle, the secret she felt she had to keep, and you know, it shines through. She looks positively unburdened and absolutely radiant."
"I think it’s having an impact on the whole country, and it’s incredible. Last year we had the phenomenal Laverne Cox on the cover of Time magazine, and now we have another major media moment with Caitlyn Jenner on the cover of Vanity Fair. It’s opening a dialogue with people about the struggles and challenges that transgender people face that we haven’t had before. Caitlyn Jenner is a celebrity of course, and she is shining a spotlight on the day-to-day challenges that people face. Your average transgender person struggles in a lot of ways just to do simple things like get healthcare because they face insurance discrimination, or to get a job because they face employment discrimination. So I think we’re starting to see a lot of public interest in the unique challenges that transgender people face, and that’s a great thing."
Paris Lees, journalist and transgender rights activist:
I can't even pic.twitter.com/iPRvCDm9OJ
— Paris Lees (@ParisLees) June 1, 2015
Gigi Gorgeous, YouTube and TV personality:
The amount of love and support I have for #CaitlynJenner is out of this world! U go girl! Slay them DEAD!
— Gigi (@TheGigiGorgeous) June 1, 2015
We’re thrilled you’re here, Caitlyn!
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