Across the nation, the release of Caitlyn Jenner‘s groundbreaking Vanity Fair cover was cause for celebration. But in Austin, Texas, Jenner’s new name and gender transition are causing a bit of a bureaucratic tangle and a whole lot of head-scratching. And it’s not for the reason you think.
Residents of a south side Austin neighborhood in which all of the streets are named after Olympians told KVUE that they weren’t sure whether or not the city planned to change the name of the street they lived on from Bruce Jenner Lane to Caitlyn Jenner Lane.
“Everywhere you call, when you say Bruce Jenner Lane, they all think you’re joking. They all start laughing, you know, and you’ve gotta explain it,” said Ray Briggs, who owns a home on Bruce Jenner Lane.
Google Street View
The rest of the street’s residents didn’t seem to care much, but they also repeatedly referred to Jenner as “he” despite the change of name and gender pronouns that swept through the media last week.
A representative for Austin’s city hall told KVUE that in order to change a street name, at least 50 percent of the street’s residents have to agree on the change. So for now it seems that Bruce Jenner Lane is here to stay. Whether or not residents in Clarksville, Tennessee, or El Paso, Texas, will alter their own streets named after Jenner remains to be seen.
Photo via Google Street View