Caitlin Jenner Tells Hannity, 'There's so Much More to Me Than' Being Trans

Caitlyn Jenner emphasized that she was "not a trans activist" during her first Fox News appearance since it was announced she was joining the network as a contributor.

Jenner's first appearance as a Fox News contributor, only hours after the network announced that she had been hired, came in the form of a short interview with host Sean Hannity on Thursday. As a transgender woman with conservative political views, Jenner has been a divisive figure in both the transgender community and among conservatives as Republicans increasingly focus on gender identity issues with a wave of state bills aimed at curtailing transgender rights.

"As you might know, I am trans," Jenner said to Hannity. "But I'm not a trans activist. That's just one part of my life, there's so much more to me. But I think in the next—in the midterms coming up—LGBT issues are going to be very big issues and I'm looking forward to covering those. But there's so much more to me than that."

Jenner went on to refer to the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympic Games, when she won a gold medal in the men's decathlon event, as "the best Olympics of all time" because "patriotism was at its height."

"I have been a patriot my whole life," said Jenner. "My father fought in World War II, my mother's 95—hi, Mom—and she's a patriot. I grew up that way and I want that to continue."

After Hannity asked Jenner whether she thought Florida's controversial new "Don't Say Gay" law was a "good idea," she enthusiastically responded that it was "great" and "what you call common sense."

At the beginning of the interview, Hannity noted that he and Jenner "go back decades." He previously interviewed Jenner on Fox last year, while she was a Republican candidate for California governor during a failed attempt to recall Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.

Jenner has faced criticism from the transgender community and others for referring to transgender girls as "biological boys" and suggesting that they and transgender women should not be allowed to openly participate in women's sports. Further criticism came after the Fox News announcement.

"Caitlyn Jenner is not a transgender activist," transgender activist Charlotte Clymer tweeted on Thursday before Jenner's identical remark to Hannity.

"Caitlyn Jenner is a clownish conservative pundit who also happens to be a trans woman," Clymer continued. "We should respect her gender identity while also recognizing that she's as awful as Phyllis Schlafly, except far less talented and effective."

In a press release emailed to Newsweek, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott described Jenner as "an inspiration to us all" and "a trailblazer in the LGBTQ+ community" whose "illustrious career spans a variety of fields that will be a tremendous asset for our audience."

Jenner's first appearance as a Fox News employee, and the announcement that she had been hired by the network, took place on International Transgender Day of Visibility, which was created in 2009 and received its first official proclamation from President Joe Biden last year.

The Day of Visibility was created in part to recognize living transgender people, as opposed to the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which was created 10 years earlier and memorializes those who have been murdered in transphobic attacks.

Newsweek reached out to the National Center for Transgender Equality for comment.