14 DAY TRIAL // Caitlyn Jenner was presented with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYS 2015 last week, which marked her first big event as the new, very high-profile voice of the LGBT community. You can see her acceptance speech in full below.
For the event, Caitlyn wore a custom-made, all-white, body-hugging Versace gown, which has earned her a spot on Vogue’s famous top 10 Best Dressed of the Week list, at number 1, no less.
Caitlyn gets fashion recognition, but she’s not entirely happy yet
Caitlyn Jenner was born Bruce, and Bruce Jenner was one of America’s biggest and most famous athletes. Bruce announced his transition by coming out as trans-woman on a Diane Sawyer ABC special, which aired in April, following many months of speculation on the topic.
Caitlyn made her first public appearance on the cover of Vanity Fair, but the ESPYS were her first major event. She made sure to use the spotlight shone on her to highlight the need for more understanding and acceptance, to raise awareness on the issues of the trans-community.
All these serious topics aside, in a new blog post, Caitlyn admits that she was terrified about what she was going to wear, which styling she should go for and whether she’d be able to make it up the stairs and on the stage without tripping on her long dress and high heels.
She made it. After some meetings with Donatella Versace and fittings for the dress, several hours with the glam squad, and even more hours rehearsing the speech, Caitlyn believes she put on a respectable appearance.
There’s still one thing that bugs her, though.
“While I felt like I looked great and that the gown looked fabulous, I still have a voice issue. It’s not quite right compared to my feminine appearance. That bothers me a little bit. However, I hope that people don’t listen to the pitch of my voice, but listen to what I have to say. That’s important to me,” she writes.
Unexpected support
In the same blog post, Caitlyn also talks about the preparations she underwent for the night of the ESPYS and how she was basically a nervous mess.
She couldn’t sit in the audience until her moment came because that would have made her even more nervous, so she waited backstage until the break before that. She didn’t watch the segment the organizers prepared for before her speech, because she didn’t want to get too emotional.
She also wrote down her speech and used a prompter because she knew she’d get too caught up in the moment and probably not be able to stick to the time limit.
With all the powerful emotions she experienced on the night of the gala, nothing compared to the kind of support she received afterwards, Jenner writes. “Getting up there on stage in front of the whole world was no easy feat, but I so appreciate your encouragement and love. We’re changing hearts and minds one at a time,” she says.