A towering, broad-shouldered figure in a white evening gown showed up at the ESPY Awards last night.

My family and I were sitting at the local brewpub eating dinner when my husband said, “Look! It’s Caitlyn Jenner! Here they go…pushing their agenda…”

My first reaction was to roll my eyes as I do when I pretty much hear anything with the last names “Jenner” and “Kardashian” in the sentence. In my mind, I thought he was talking about Kylie until I looked up at the screen.

Right. Caitlyn. Caityln Jenner. The former Olympic athlete that I recognized from the Wheaties boxes when I was a kid. Still recognizable, just wearing a white dress.

If you Google “Bruce Jenner” today, you will not find “Bruce”, but you will find “Caitlyn.” Jenner appeared at the ESPY Awards last night to receive the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage in which Jenner talked about recent experiences:

“It’s been eye-opening, inspiring, but also frightening. All across this country, right now, all across the world, at this very moment, there are young people coming to terms with being transgender. They’re learning that they are different and they are trying to figure out how to handle that, on top of every other problem that a teenager has.

They’re getting bullied, they’re getting beaten up, they’re getting murdered and they’re committing suicide. The numbers that you just heard before are staggering, but they are the reality of what it is like to be trans today.”

Agenda Item #1 in the can. Bullying. Trans-youth. Acceptance. The speech goes on:

“But this transition has been harder on me than anything I could imagine. And that’s the case for so many others besides me. For that reason alone, trans people deserve something vital. They deserve your respect. And from that respect comes a more compassionate community, a more empathetic society and a better world for all of us.”

Agenda Item #2. Respect. And, yet another item in a carefully crafted speech given by Jenner:

“And now, as of this week, it appears that trans people will soon be serving in the military. That’s a great idea. We have come a long way. But we have a lot of work to do.”

Jenner went on, in a noticeably male voice, to thank “buddy”, Diane Sawyer for the candid interview back in April.

Yes, the very interview where Jenner admitted to being a Christian and a Republican and (GASP) not a big fan of Barack Obama.

Now, there are rumors circulating that Jenner’s speech at the ESPY’s was a publicity stunt to garner ABC one of the biggest stories of the year.

Her agents approached ESPN, which is owned by Disney like Sawyer’s ABC, “and they suggested that she receive the Arthur Ashe award,” the source claimed. “It was a brilliant move because the executives at ESPN loved the idea, and immediately began making sure it got done. Caitlyn’s journey to accepting the award will also be featured on her upcoming reality show, I am Cait.”

“There was a hiccup during the talks about Caitlyn receiving the award, and her reps were prepared to pull her interview with Diane Sawyer if she didn’t get it,” the source said. “It was ironed out, and ABC owns one of the biggest stories of the year.”-louderwithcrowder.com