Caitlyn Jenner isn’t doing enough for the transgender community in the United States, according to RuPaul’s Drag Race cast member Carmen Carrera.
The transgender woman told TMZ ahead of Jenner’s planned diversity speech in front of Parliament in the United Kingdom that Jenner needs to better represent the “average life of trans woman” in her own country before she can speak out on international matters.
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“If Caitlyn Jenner‘s number one mission is to be the Mother Theresa of this community, she has to be educated on our real lives, because we all know her life does not reflect the average life of a trans woman living in the world right now,” Carrera said.
“Caitlyn Jenner should use her celebrity and notoriety for bigger causes,” she added, noting that there are other transgender women, like herself, “struggling to have more opportunity in the work field.”
Carrera said Jenner “needs to make herself available” to everyday transgender women. “I’ve been trying got call that lady for months. I’ve been doing a lot of the ground work myself,” Carrera said, adding that she works for multiple organizations that advocate transgender rights. “I’ve been doing my duty…and it would feel nice if she would lend her ears and her intentions to what we’re doing on the ground level.”
While the reality TV personality said she respects Jenner as a transgender woman, leader and for “wanting to take on this leadership role,” she stresses that she “needs to be very prepared” for her Parliament address.
“I would hope with the best intentions that if she goes to another country to speak on trans issues that she’s fully aware, [that] she is humble, and [that] she’s not caught up in her celebrity — because i feel that’s a distraction to her bigger cause,” Carrera finished.
Jenner was selected to deliver this year’s keynote speech on diversity, The Independent reports. The annual address takes place Wednesday in the House of Commons in London. The event, now in its third year, began as a way to give public figures a platform to speak about issues related to diversity plaguing the entertainment industry.
Carrera isn’t the only transgender woman outspoken about Jenner’s appearance before Parliament. Trans comedian, journalist and activist Shon Faye criticized Channel 4 for its choice to give Jenner a platform.
“When a UK broadcaster can only pick a white, conservative, rich, famous AMERICAN trans celebrity to address the BRITISH Parliament on diversity re transgender issues – that isn’t a sign of progress, that’s a sign of a problem,” Faye wrote on Twitter.
She also called Jenner’s life story “as far removed from what British politicians need to be hearing and considering on this ‘issue.’”
Jenner will be the third person to give the speech and the first trans person to do so.
