Caitlyn Jenner has spoken at the Republican National Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, telling fellow members of the political party, "'It was easy to come out as trans, it was harder to come out as a Republican".
Jenner, who came out as a transgender woman to much media fanfare over a year ago, made the remarks while on stage at the convention's "LGBT brunch" on Wednesday.
The 66-year-old former Olympian-turned-reality star spoke about the controversy which ensued when she revealed she would continue to support the Republican Party despite openly identifying as trans.
"I get it, the Democratic Party does a better job when it comes to the LGBT community, the trans community, all that kind of stuff, and [President] Obama actually has been very good from that standpoint, just recently letting trans people serve openly in the military," she conceded.
"But I think the Republican Party ... need to know people who are trans. There are actually trans people out in this audience right now, but you have no idea that they're trans, which is a wonderful thing.
"So I'm here today so you – since most people don't know anybody who's trans – [can] get to know somebody."
Caitlyn Jenner has been a longtime supporter of the Republican Party. In the televised interview Jenner used to announce her transition to the public, she said identifying openly as a transgender person had not prompted her to shift her political stance.
"Is that a bad thing?" she asked Diane Sawyer in the April 2015 interview. "I believe in the constitution."
Her conservative politics were criticised in an interview on the Ellen Show last September, where host Ellen DeGeneres questioned how Jenner could vote Republican as a transperson, given the party's views on issues like same-sex marriage.
"I like tradition and it's always been between a man and a woman and I'm thinking I don't quite get it," Jenner said. "But as time goes on, like a lot of people on this issue I've really changed thinking here, to I don't ever want to stand in front of anybody's happiness."
DeGeneres replied, "It's funny because you're still a little not on board with it." To which Jenner clarified that she was "OK with it" as "it's going to be pretty much the law of the land".
Jenner's presence at the Republican National Conference is interesting not only because she is one of the few famous faces in the US open about voting conservative (Hillary Clinton, by contrast, counts Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Jennifer Lopez and Lena Dunham among her vocal supporters), but because she originally supported failed candidate Ted Cruz in the race to become the party's presidential nominee.
However, she withdrew her support after Cruz spoke in favour of a controversial North Carolina bill, which required transgender people to use public bathrooms that corresponded with their biological sex as listed on their birth certificate.
After Donald Trump, who was named as the Republican presidential nominee at this week's conference, said during an appearance on US morning show Today that he did not support the bill, Jenner demonstratively swapped sides by going to the bathroom at Trump Tower in New York City
"So, if Caitlyn Jenner were to walk into Trump Tower and want to use the bathroom, you would be fine with her using any bathroom she chooses?" Today host Matt Lauer had asked Trump.
"That is correct," the 69-year-old businessman had replied.
In a video uploaded to her Facebook account, Jenner took Trump up on his offer.
"Thank you, Donald, I really appreciate it," Jenner said in the video. "And by the way, Ted, nobody got molested."
