Since coming out as a transgender woman, Caitlyn Jenner has experienced a great deal of hatred and bigotry from all sorts of people - some of them friends, some of them former fans, and many of them total strangers. And even now, more than three years after she first publicly announced her gender identity, people are still ignoring her requests for basic decency.
This week, it was Amir Khan - a British boxer and a former unified light-welterweight world champion - who showed his transphobia towards Jenner after sharing a picture of himself with the reality star on social media.
Both Khan and Jenner were in attendance at the ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) Awards in LA this week, and happened to meet while Jenner - a former Olympian - was seated on the front row. Then, apparently not wanting to miss an opportunity to take a picture with a gold medalist and former world record-holder, Khan asked her if he could get a photo - and she accepted.
However, when the boxer shared the image on Snapchat, he captioned it with Jenner's old name: Bruce.
For a person of trans experience, having one's former name (or "deadname", as it is commonly referred to) used in any context, but especially a widely publicised one, is incredibly insulting and offensive. Plus, it's not as if Khan would not have been aware of Jenner's name change, as she was very open about her transition when she announced it a few years back.
Obviously, then, Khan's choice to ignore her real (and legal) name was seen as hugely insensitive.
Since then, the boxer has faced a great deal of backlash on Twitter, with many people pointing out that his actions were deliberately transphobic.
"Amir Khan is not funny for calling Caitlin Jenner Bruce he demonstrates what a transphobic c**t he is," wrote one person, who then added: "And I don’t even like Caitlin Jenner."
Others, meanwhile, joined in with Khan's needless attack, and used the photo to spread further negativity about the Keeping up with the Kardashians star.
By this point, though, Jenner is sadly used to the abuse. In an interview given to Broadly earlier this year, she disclosed that she rarely leaves the house anymore. "I got the trans community out there bashing on me, I got the Kardashians out there bashing on me," she said. "All I do is sit here in the house and try to stay out of trouble."
Despite this, the former athlete still interacted with Khan, who also posted a video of the two high-fiving on Instagram.
Of course, Jenner herself has come under fire in the past for saying things that have been perceived as transphobic, and she has had to clarify those comments as a result. In response to one accusation of transphobia, she said: "I promise to keep learning, and to try to be more articulate in the future. We have a lot of hard work to do. I am looking forward to doing it together."
Hopefully Khan can learn to do the same.
