Unless you live under a rock you have probably heard just how upset some people are over the fact that Caitlyn Jenner was honored with the Arthur Ashe Courage award at the ESPY’s.  Of course not many of those people know who Arthur Ashe was or even what an ESPY is.  They surely have no clue of who past honorees were.  They just know that to them there is no way someone like her could be courageous and be a hero.

Caitlyn Jenner was once Bruce Jenner.  As a former college football player, Jenner came to international attention as a decathlete; winning the gold medal in the men’s decathlon event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and setting a world record not beaten until 1980.  With the unofficial title of “world’s greatest athlete” for the Olympic decathlon win, he was also an American cult hero winning an event dominated by Soviet Union athletes during the Cold War.  I was ten years old and I have a very vivid memory of his dominant performance and him being on a Wheaties box.

The Arthur Ashe Courage Award is a sport-oriented award, although it is not limited to sports-related people or actions, as it is presented annually to individuals whose contributions “transcend sports”. Often these transcendent figures are also athletes who have been at the top of their sport, such as Mohammed Ali, Dean Smith, Cathy Freeman, and Caitlyn Jenner.  Other recent non-sports related winners are Robin Roberts and Nelson Mandela.

So, Caitlyn fits the criteria for being honored.  An incredible athlete and a courageous person for being totally transparent through her transition knowing the abuse she would take for doing it.  She could have locked herself away and made this change without anyone knowing.  But like a lot of celebrities she wanted to use her fame for a good cause.  She had a platform and she used it. Caitlyn is transgender and that refers to people who were assigned a sex, usually at birth and based on their genitals, but who feel that this is a false or incomplete description of themselves. Transgender people may meet the criteria for a diagnosis of gender identity disorder (GID) “only if [being transgender] causes distress or disability.” This distress is referred to as gender dysphoria and may manifest as depression or inability to work and form healthy relationships with others.

According to surveys, 4.6 percent of the overall U.S. population has self-reported a suicide attempt, with that number climbing to between 10 and 20 percent for lesbian, gay or bisexual respondents. By comparison, 41 percent of trans or gender non-conforming people surveyed have attempted suicide.  So it is not hard to imagine the impact of what Caitlyn Jenner has done.  Trans gender’s now have an amazing role model.  Someone who concurred her fears and dealt with her problems without resorting to suicide.  I have no doubt that this one action will reduce that suicide rate and bring attention to this disorder and hopefully get rid of the hate that this group of people feel every day.

Now to the hate.  My Facebook feed has been filled with comments and memes from my conservative friends who are beyond upset that Caitlyn Jenner could win this award.  From an incorrect meme that said that an amputee veteran was a runner up and should have won even though according to ESPN there was no runner up.  To a picture that went viral with over 700,000 shares about how the real heroes are war veterans like the two in a picture which turned out to be a picture of two model soldiers from a diorama that a photographer used as therapy after being beaten by six men because he was a cross dresser.  Now throw in all the people who decided to comment their hatred for someone that they can’t relate to and could never understand.  All of those comments actually said more about the people commenting then it did about Caitlyn Jenner.

Even though she was honored with a courage award most people turned it into “how can she be a hero?”

We need to understand that being courageous and being someone’s hero are two different things.  A person can do something that is courageous but if they are a hero or not is in the eye of the beholder.  My hero growing up was Fran Tarkington.  Looking at the world around me now I am almost certain that I am the only one that I know that had him as a hero.  But he was my hero and it didn’t depend on what you think.  So it’s not hard to see what she did was courageous and it’s not up to me to say if she is a hero to anyone, that’s up to them and them alone.

It was hard to understand where the anger from the conservative side was coming from until I thought about it for a second.  “I didn’t vote for him as President, he must be impeached”. “I would never have an abortion, no one else can either”.  “I don’t approve of gay marriage, there shall be no gay marriage”.  So again I’m not surprised to hear “I would never consider Caitlyn Jenner a hero, so no one else should either”.

Oh those pesky facts.