Bruce Jenner's former coach expects 'mixed bag' of reactions from athletes

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/25/bruce-jenner-coach-reactions-kanye-west-mark-takano

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Related: I am a woman, Bruce Jenner tells Diane Sawyer in ABC interview

Bruce Jenner’s public announcement that she identifies as a woman is likely to elicit a “mixed bag” of reactions in track and field and society as a whole, Bert Bonanno, Jenner’s coach at the 1976 Olympics, said on Saturday.

“But that’s human nature,” he added.

Bonanno coached Jenner and the sprinter Millard Hampton to gold medals in Montreal. Appearing on CNN on Saturday, he described Jenner – who spoke to ABC’s Dianne Sawyer in a Friday night interview that drew 16.8 million viewers – as curious, bold, dynamic and daring.

Bonanno added that Jenner knew who her true friends were and that those friends would not now abandon her. The retired coach also said that had Jenner not been an Olympic athlete, his revelation would still have happened, if not in such a public and international way.

Also speaking to CNN, the first “out” transgender soldier in the US military, army sergeant Shane Ortega, said ABC had “represented the community honestly” through its interview with Jenner. Ortega enlisted as a woman but identifies as a man.

After Jenner’s interview with Sawyer, Olympians including Rowdy Gaines (winner of three golds in the swimming pool in Los Angeles in 1984) and Dwight Stones (a high jump bronze medalist in 1972 and 1976) expressed their support on Twitter.

So proud of my twice Olympic teammate for his courage and the difference he's going to make in other people's lives. #BruceJennerABC

According to Jenner, the rapper Kanye West, who married Jenner’s step-daughter Kim Kardashian in 2014, has been very supportive.

“Kim told me a story,” Jenner said. “She goes: ‘You know what really turned me around on thinking about this?’ And I said: ‘What?’ She goes: ‘Kanye.’

“They were talking about it and he says to Kim: ‘Look it, I can be married to the most beautiful woman in the world, and I am. I can have the most beautiful little daughter in the world. I have that, but I am nothing if I can’t be me, if I can’t be true to myself. They don’t mean anything.’

“… And since then, Kimberly has been by far the most accepting and the easiest to talk to about it.”

Other supporters included the California representative Mark Takano, the first openly gay Asian American in Congress.

“We all have our own journey,” Takano said on Twitter. “Congratulations to #BruceJenner for finding happiness and finally being able to be who he is.”

Related: Bruce Jenner throws focus on America’s ‘new civil rights frontier’

In her interview with Sawyer, Jenner praised President Barack Obama for his support of the transgender community, but said she was “more on the conservative side” and that “neither political party has a monopoly on understanding”.

“Are you a Republican?” Sawyer asked.

“Yeah,” Jenner said. “Is that a bad thing? I believe in the constitution.”

Gregory T Angelo, national executive director of the pro-LGBT group Log Cabin Republicans, issued a statement congratulating Jenner on “the tremendous courage he demonstrated tonight, being true to himself both in terms of his personal identity as well as his political identity”.

“There is a home for you in Log Cabin Republicans,” Angelo continued, “as there is for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender conservatives and straight allies.”