VF caitlyn

Caitlyn Jenner made her big debut on Vanity Fair yesterday. And since we now know her name and that she’s fully identifying as a woman, we will be using her new name and female pronouns. Vanity Fair released more of their cover story and Caitlyn is – at this point – pretty easy-going about that part of her transition. When journalist Buzz Bissinger apologized to Caitlyn about using male pronouns, she said: “I don’t really get hung up. A guy came in the other day and I was fully dressed—it’s just habit, I said, ‘Hi, Bruce here,’ and I went, Oh f–k, it ain’t Bruce, I was screwing up doing it.” Caitlyn also tells VF that she had a 10-hour “facial-feminization” surgery on March 15th, although she thought it was only going to be a five-hour process. And Caitlyn tells VF that she has not had the full gender-reassignment and has no plans to do so.

Something else happened in the wake of Caitlyn’s debut – ESPN confirmed that they would be giving Caitlyn Jenner the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. I’m sure that was decided before the cover but after the Diane Sawyer interview. And I think the award is completely and utterly justified. “Courageous” is exactly the word I’d use to describe how Caitlyn has handled everything. Apparently, Caitlyn will make her first live public appearance at the ESPYs and some or all of her family will be there to support her.

As for the name, there are some interesting stories – all quoting “sources close to Jenner” – floating around about how she chose that specific name (with that specific spelling). TMZ’s sources say that she wanted to be Caitlyn-with-a-C rather than a K because she “wants a clean break from the Kardashians” and Caitlyn “wants to make it clear to her family and the world … she is her own person… we’re told it was an extremely meaningful choice for her … she has never been her own person before, and becoming part of the Kardashian brood would undermine her goal.” Sources told People Mag that she chose Caitlyn out of all names because “The name is what he always loved when he thought about this [female] part of his life.”

Cover courtesy of Annie Leibovitz/Vanity Fair.