Caitlyn Jenner to attend Cleveland LGBT brunch during GOP convention
By Daniella Diaz
CNN
Caitlyn Jenner is heading to Cleveland — not for the Republican National Convention, but instead to be a celebrity guest at an LGBT brunch.
The American Unity Fund, a conservative nonprofit organization that does advocacy for LGBT Americans, is hosting the brunch on July 20 under the Big Tent at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Talk show host Montel Williams will also attend.
The event, called the “Big Tent Brunch,” will showcase conservative support for LGBT rights and work still needed to bring “full freedom and equality opportunity,” according to a statement by the organization.
Williams, a conservative activist and advocate for the LGBT community, is planning to attend with Jenner, a reality star and activist for transgender causes who identifies as Republican.
“There are a few misguided lawmakers who have lost sight of the fact that anything short of full freedom for our LGBT neighbors, friends, and co-workers is a threat to the freedom of all of us. Like Vice President Dick Cheney stated, ‘Freedom means freedom for everyone,’” Williams said in the statement.
Jenner told The Daily Beast, who first reported the event, that she wants to help advocate for LGBT issues in politics.
“The party conventions are like the political Olympics, and I’m excited to be headed to Cleveland to stand with my fellow LGBT Republicans and allies,” Jenner said in a statement sent to The Daily Beast. “As a proud Republican and transgender woman, I want to support courageous Republicans who advocate for LGBT freedom … I want to do my part to persuade more Republicans to support freedom for millions of LGBT Americans.”
Jenner said she has no plans to attend the convention. She previously supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for the Republican nomination before he dropped out of the race, telling The Advocate, “I think he’s very conservative, and a great constitutionalist, and a very articulate man.”
Then last month, after Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, she told STAT that she believes Trump would be better for women than Hillary Clinton.
“Everybody looks at the Democrats as being better with these issues. But Trump seems to be very much for women,” she said. “He seems very much behind the LGBT community because of what happened in North Carolina with the bathroom issue. He backed the LGBT community. But in Trump’s case, there’s a lot more unknowns. With Hillary, you pretty much know what you’re gonna get with the LGBT community.”
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