THESE past few weeks have seen America focusing on one of its socialite families after the father decided he is tired of living his life as a man and wants to live as a woman. The frenzy caused by Bruce Jenner has again exposed America and its media as a vapid society whose moral compass is lost. Former American Olympic champion track and field athlete who is now a reality television personality, Bruce Jenner is now officially known as Caitlyn Jenner. Bruce Jenner came to international attention in 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal when he set a world record in the men’s decathlon event. Bruce became an American hero for winning an event long dominated by Soviet Union athletes during the Cold War. Bruce was also a successful race car driver in the IMAS Camel GT series in the 1980s. He also owns among other businesses, Bruce Jenner Aviation which sells aircraft supplies to executives and corporations. Jenner is a professed Christian and is a Republican. After three marriages which resulted in over six children Bruce has come out as a trans-woman, Caitlyn Jenner, and is now publicity referring to ‘herself’ by feminine pronouns. Bruce/Caitlyn has become the most famous openly transgender person in the world. Jenner’s first public appearance as Caitlyn will be to receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award in July 2015. She is reportedly being given the award because, “she has shown the courage to embrace a truth that had been hidden for years and to embark on a journey that may not only give comfort to those facing similar circumstances, but can also help to educate people on challenges that the transgender community faces.” Other contenders who had been lined up to receive the Arthur Ashe Award were Lauren Hill and Noah Galloway. Lauren Hill is a female basketball player who struggled with a brain tumour throughout her first year in college. Despite her deadly disease, Lauren continued to play showing incredible courage. She died on April 10 this year. Noah Galloway is an Iraq veteran who lost his leg and part of his arm in battle. The Arthur Ashe Courage Award is an award that is part of the awards presented by the television network ESPN in recognition of individual and team athletic achievements. The award is not limited to sports related peoples or actions, some of the recipients have included Mohammed Ali, Nelson Mandela and George Weah. Arthur Ashe was an American world number one professional tennis player born in 1943. He was the first African-America to be selected to the US Davis Cup team, he is the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open or the Australian Open. Ashe’s accomplishments should be contextualised in the era he played tennis: a time of segregation, racism and discrimination. In 1969, Ashe applied for the first time a visa to play in the South African Open, but was denied the visa and he continued to do so for years to come. In November 1973, Arthur Ashe was finally granted a visa by apartheid South Africa as the nation sought to end their Olympic ban. The petition website, Change.org, which has over 65 million users and hosts sponsored campaigns for organisations like Amnesty International and Human Society has run a petition against Bruce Jenner. The petition addressed to the Olympic Committee asks that Bruce be stripped of his medals because if he identified himself as a woman when he competed for the gold, then he/she violated Committee rules about women competing in men’s sports and vice versa. By June 4 2015, the petition had close to 10 000 signatures. Bruce’s transformation to Caitlyn poses a challenge for many opinion makers in America. Living in a political correct society tends to put pressure on many to be seen as open to various abnormalities and absurdities. One cannot be seen as questioning the whole gender transformation move as then you are labelled as close minded and repressive. In fact the move to award Bruce/Caitlyn the Arthur Ashe Courage Award already points to acceptance of this new trend and stifles the debate on the matter. The debate on sexuality in America seems to be shifting away from the traditional family unit as being the norm and leaning more and more towards acceptance of gays, lesbians and the transgender as being the new ‘normal’. Previously those practising and embracing such lifestyles were depicted as being on the fringes of society and in the minority, but as more and more prominent figures come out of the closet as it were, what was once unacceptable is being embraced as not only normal, but glamourised to the detriment of normal family values.