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Crucial Update

Why the Bruce Jenner Interview Mattered

Courtesy ABC News

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Friday, 17 million people tuned in to watch Olympian-turned-tabloid bait, Bruce Jenner discuss his intention to become a woman with Diane Sawyer. To say the interview was hyped is like saying Kim Kardashian is sort of well-known. It would have been easy to cast the piece aside as a spectacle–and many did–but that's about as as far from the truth as a bad tabloid headline.

Speaking honestly and candidly, Bruce introduced viewers to the many dimensions of the transgendered experience as well as his own feeling of being "stuck." It was sensitive, patient, and brave. "I'm me. I'm a person. And this is who I am," Bruce said. So why did it matter? Because by opening himself up and giving his very famous family the opportunity to support him in the way they do everything - publicly, he's opened millions of eyes. If it took hundreds of selfies to get here, so be it.