Wednesday night, Caitlyn Jenner received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs, and for any activist out there worried about things like "oh, she's white and rich and privileged and a Republican blah blah blah, who's going to tell the REAL STORIES?!?!" (looking at you, TWITTER), we think those worries are unfounded. She KILLED IT. She looked stunning in Versace, whether you think she favors Jessica Lange or a healthier Janice Dickinson. And she was very clear about the fact that she understands that with her huge platform comes even huger responsibilities.

If there's one thing i do know about my life, it is the power of the spotlight. Sometimes it gets overwhelming. But with attention comes responsibility, as a group, as athletes. How you conduct your lives, what you say, what you do, is absorbed and observed by millions of people,  especially young people. I know I'm clear with my responsibility going forward:  to tell my story the right way for me, to keep learning, to do whatever i can to reshape the landscape of how trans people are viewed, how trans people are treated, and then more broadly, to promote a very simple idea:  accepting people for who they are."

And the people said "amen." The biggest professional athletes in America gave her standing ovations for saying things like this, read it all because we said so:

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You know, it is an honor to have the word “courage” associated with my life, but on this night another word comes to mind, and that is “fortunate.” I owe a lot to sports. It’s showed me the world. It’s given me an identity. If someone wanted to bully me, well you know what, I was the MVP of the football team—that just wasn’t going to be a problem. And the same goes tonight. If you want to call me names, make jokes, doubt my intentions, go ahead. Because the reality is, I can take it. But for the thousands of kids out there coming to terms with being true to who they are, they shouldn’t have to take it.

She also said, "If you want to call me names, make jokes ... I can take it." CAITLYN JENNER CAN BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU, is the point, and she might do it, if you piss her off.

Jenner didn't shy away from telling people exactly what the movement is up against:

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're different, and they're trying to figure out how to handle that ... they're getting bullied, they're getting beaten up, they're getting murdered, and they're committing suicide.

She then spoke of two trans kids who are now statistics, Mercedes Williamson and Sam Taub, and asked whether "spotlighting this issue with more attention could have changed the way things happened," concluding, "we'll never know."

This is, mere weeks after gays and lesbians won the right to throatcram America with all their sodomy-based marriages, a transgender human being standing in front of the world, at the center of an industry that historically has been among the LAST to evolve on basic human rights issues, reaching audiences no trans person has ever really been able to speak to.

Here's but one example of that broad reach, and then we will leave you to watch the full speech, because you are required to do that and there will be a quiz. Jim Hoft -- AKA The Gateway Pundit, AKA The Second Stupidest Man On The Internet -- posted the video, and his only commentary was "Love her or hate her -- This was a powerful moment." Uh, yes, Jim Hoft, you are correct, which is VERY weird to say! Of course, Hoft's commenters are going fucking ballistic (LOL), but when somebody THAT stupid and wingnutty watches a trans woman speak and is, in his own words, "moved," then, as Old Handsome Joe Biden would say, this is a big fuckin' deal.

[Mic.com]