Caitlyn Jenner Feels "Responsibility" to Transgender Community, Realizes "How Fortunate" She's Been

"Seeing how my new friends have overcome their adversities is such an inspiration," she writes in "The Real Me" WhoSay essay

By Rebecca Macatee Jul 06, 2015 5:58 PMTags
Caitlyn Jenner247PAPS.TV / Splash News

Caitlyn Jenner's family has been by her side through each on each step of her journey, but not everyone in the transgender community has this kind of support.

In the first article from her original WhoSay series "The Real Me," Caitlyn, 65, explains that hearing other trans men and women's stories has been "an eye-opening experience for me—mainly realizing how fortunate I am."

(With the release of her Vanity Fair cover on June 1, Caitlyn has chosen to identify publicly as a woman and E! News will refer to her using female pronouns. In stories published before this date, she was referred to as Bruce Jenner and male pronouns were used.)

"The response to my new journey has been overwhelmingly positive," she writes, "and I'm eternally grateful for all of your sweet messages, letters and gifts."

Until recently, though, Caitlyn "totally isolated myself from the transgender community," she explains, "so I have a lot of catching up to do!"

"I feel such a responsibility to this courageous group to try to get it right and tell all sides of the story," she continues. "To me, that's always the biggest question: am I doing it right?"

In the first of her WhoSay essays, Caitlyn touches on what she's already learned from some of her "new friends" in the trans community. "I've heard every horror story there is in the book," she writes. "You wouldn't believe the types of ordeals these people have had, how they have had to literally fight for their own survival."

"Seeing how my new friends have overcome their adversities is such an inspiration," Caitlyn writes. "They are so well-adjusted and smart."

She promises to share some of their stories as well as the "lessons that I am learning through this process" in the weeks to come. "I have so much to discover," she writes, "and hope you'll join me on this adventure."

For more information on the transgender movement, please visit CaitlynJenner.com.

Caitlyn Jenner's docu-series I Am Cait premieres July 26 at 8 p.m. on E!