On Thursday afternoon, Caitlyn Jenner came to Chicago to give the keynote address for the Chicago House Speaker Series at the Hilton Hotel. I sat with many members of the Chicago media to watch the speech in the press box and was very impressed. Caitlyn told many stories about her family during the half hour speech and said at one point that daughter Kylie believes their relationship is better now than before her transition. Many audience members cheered during a question and answer session after the speech when Caitlyn admitted she was finally able to get her drivers license. There were emotional moments as well where Caitlyn’s eyes were welling up with tears. A camera crew filmed most of the speech filming for her television series “I Am Cait.”
After the speech, I hung around the hotel for about 15-20 minutes and noticed Caitlyn with her huge entourage leaving through the front door. I attempted to snap a quick picture with her (which wasn’t very successful) and then followed Cait while bodyguards tried to fend off the crowd. Outside the hotel, several protesters stood with signs yelling to Caitlyn on megaphones. Rather than continue past, Caitlyn confronted the protesters head-on. Watch my video below to see how it happened:
It made me sad to see people spewing this kind of hate, especially after the event had inspired so many people moments earlier. Caitlyn seemed to handle it well, though. Rather than shouting back, she tried to engage them in a conversation as best as she could. In the end, her bodyguards whisked her away to her car. Despite the chaos, the luncheon was a success. Caitlyn tweeted this yesterday:
Huge thanks for our soldout event with @ChicagoHouse85 yesterday! We raised over $300k to continue the work they do for the LGBTQ community.
— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) November 14, 2015
Read more on this story at Entertainment Tonight.
