Here are some photos of Caitlyn Jenner at last night’s event for Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year Awards. As we previously covered, Caitlyn was named one of several women of the year for 2015 for her trans advocacy, etc. While I think Caitlyn’s dress is kind of fug and dated (totally ‘80s, right?), I like this neckline on her. It makes her shoulders and décolletage look great. In an introductory video, Caitlyn told the audience, “Of all the things I’ve done in my life, Caity is why God put me on this earth: to tell my story; to be honest with myself about who I am. And in doing that, making a difference in the world. And I’m very happy to be living on the other side.” Here are some highlights from her speech:

Her transition, talking with her pastor: “There was a French activist and writer, Simone de Beauvoir, who said, ‘You are not born woman. You become one’ … Words I live by. My transition was very, very long. I had many, many, many years of isolation from the world, of lying to the world, of not being myself. I got to a few years ago; I was back out in Malibu in my home, all alone. I raised wonderful children. And I thought: “What am I gonna do with my life?” I isolated myself and lied to myself and lied to the world for so long: “What am I gonna do with my life?” I sat down with my pastor, talked to him about my issues. And yes, I had a lot of conversations with God. I came to the conclusion: You know what? Maybe this is why God put me on this earth—to tell my story. To be authentic to myself, to who I am. And maybe in doing that, maybe you can make a difference in the world. What a great opportunity in life to have.”

The tabloids: “I sat down with each one of my 10 children, and it was the big secret in the family that nobody could talk about because I was getting destroyed in the tabloids every week, walking through the grocery line, looking at the headlines. And so were my children. It was hurtful. So I sat each one of ’em down, and I said, “This is my story. This is who I am. What can I do?”

The shift after her Diane Sawyer interview: “So it started with Diane Sawyer … so eloquently and so beautifully telling my story. And then two months later, then pictures and the name came out: Boy, oh boy, did the conversation change. No longer [was] the media saying terrible things about you, because they would be homophobic. All of a sudden, everybody became comfortable…Boy, did the conversations change. All of a sudden, all these new questions came into my life. People were going, “What’s your style? What are you gonna wear? Who are your heroes? Are you a feminist?” All these questions, and I said, “Oh my gosh, I’ve got so much to learn.”

Recognizing the women who have come before her: “I could not have done this without the people who have gone before me: the Laverne Cox’s of the world, the Janet Mock’s … What I have learned about this community is what a great group of women there are out there, who have worked so hard to be authentic to themselves and authentic to womanhood.”

[From People]

I kind of like that Caitlyn still talks about God, her faith, her relationship with her pastor and having some higher calling. I think it’s an important framing device for trans issues, because all too often, Christianity has been wielded as a weapon against LGBT people. It’s good to hear more prominent people in the LGBT community talk about their faith and their personal relationship with God. Anyway, as I said previously, I don’t hate the fact that Caitlyn was recognized by Glamour Magazine. She was one of several women recognized and even if you don’t care for Caitlyn, her parenting or her family, she still changed the conversation around trans issues significantly.

Photos courtesy of WENN.