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Lindsey Graham: Caitlyn Jenner is welcome in the Republican Party

Jun 07 2015
Written by Nick Duffy

Republican Presidential hopeful Lindsey Graham has said he would welcome the vote of Caitlyn Jenner – despite anti-trans views within his party.

The Republican politician made the comments in a CNN interview, after declaring his Presidential campaign last week.

Speaking about Jenner, who revealed her new name last week on the cover of Vanity Fair, he said she would be welcome in the Republican Party despite its opposition to LGBT rights, and his personal opposition to LGBT rights.

He said: “Here’s what I would say to the talk show hosts: In the eyes of radical Islam, they hate you as much as they hate Caitlyn Jenner.

“They hate us all because we won’t agree to their view of religion. So America, we are all in this together.”

He added: “I haven’t walked in her shoes. I don’t have all the answers to the mysteries of life.

“I can only imagine the torment that Bruce Jenner went through. I hope he’s… I hope she has found peace.”

“I’m a pro-life, traditional marriage kind of guy, but I’m running to be president of the United States. If Caitlyn Jenner wants to be a Republican, she is welcome in my party.”

One of Mr Graham’s opponents, Mike Huckabee, recently joked he wishes he were trans so he could spy on teenage girls in the shower.

He said: “Now I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE.

“I’m pretty sure that I would have found my feminine side and said, ‘Coach, I think I’d rather shower with the girls today’.”

Graham – who has never been married and has no children – has consistently denied rumours about his sexuality.

Last year, one of the Senator’s political opponents branded him “ambiguously gay”while campaigning to unseat him.

Graham dismissed the rumours, and joked: “Maybe I’m having a clandestine affair with Ricky Martin. I know it’s really gonna upset a lot of gay men — I’m sure hundreds of ’em are gonna be jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge — but I ain’t available. I ain’t gay. Sorry.”