This ad is in a bus shelter on The Terrace in Wellington GayNZ.com readers are expressing disgust at a blatantly offensive bus shelter ad for America’s Next Top Model All Stars which features a transwoman, who is a contestant, and reads “The Boy is Back”. The contestant, Isis King, is back after featuring in an earlier cycle of the show. She was the first transwoman to compete on America’s Next Top Model and has become one of the most visible trans people on television. King has made it clear that though she was assigned the male gender at birth, she feels she was born female “mentally [and] everything else”. She does not have an issues with people describing her as transgender or transsexual, but prefers to be referred to as having been born in the wrong body. In 2009, Top Model host Tyra Banks surprised Isis on her chat show by arranging for her to have all-expenses paid surgery. A GayNZ.com reader describes the Four billboard as offensive, “as the model Isis is a transwoman, not a boy, and Four knows this is offensive”. GayNZ.com Daily News is contacting Four's owner Mediaworks about the billboard, and it is believed to be in the process of pulling the ad. You can discuss this New Zealand gay community news story in the GayNZ.com Forum.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 8th February 2012 - 3:19pm