Tel Aviv invites Caitlyn Jenner as guest of honor for Pride Week

In light of coming week's LGBT Pride festivities emphasizing the transgender community, city reaches out to Olympic gold medalist, reality TV star who garnered media spotlight with recent transition.

By JTA, JPOST.COM STAFF
Israeli drag queens and go-go dancers dance on a truck during the annual gay pride parade in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv on June 13, 2014. (photo credit: JACK GUEZ / AFP)
Israeli drag queens and go-go dancers dance on a truck during the annual gay pride parade in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv on June 13, 2014.
(photo credit: JACK GUEZ / AFP)
The City of Tel Aviv on Thursday invited Caitlyn Jenner to be a guest of honor at its LGBT Pride Week celebration.
Jenner, 65, the former reality show star and Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete, has not responded to the invitation. She has garnered the media spotlight with her recent transition to become a woman.
Tel Aviv’s LGBT Pride week, which begins on Sunday, draws thousands of participants each year. This year, the celebration will emphasize the transgender community.
The Municipality expects some 180,000 participants, including some 30,000 tourists from abroad, to flock to Tel Aviv for its 17th annual Pride Parade next Friday. 
"In sharing publically your private and intimate journey, as well as the difficulties you faced along the way, you became a huge inspiration here in Tel Aviv, and a person we all look up to,"  Tel Aviv City Council member Yaniv Weizman wrote Jenner in the invitation.
 

Dear Caitlyn Jenner, We would be greatly honored to have you here, in Tel Aviv as our guest! You Inspire us!

Posted by ‎מצעד הגאווה בתל אביב / Tel-Aviv Pride Parade‎ on Thursday, June 4, 2015

"At a time when transgender people around the world are fighting for equal rights and an end to discrimination in the job market, housing and health services, and as they struggle to gain the respect they deserve, and to live a life in dignity, your brave exposure has definitely saved lives," added Weitzman.
Before transitioning to a woman, Jenner was married to Kris Jenner and appeared for many years on the TV reality show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” The two divorced earlier this year, shortly before Jenner publicly announced plans to become a woman.
After the Olympic victory in 1976, Bruce Jenner, as he was known at the time, starred in several films and television specials.


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