Fri 5 Aug 2016 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
A transgender supermodel will be featured among other local celebrities in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games this year, making her the first trans person to participate in such an event. Supermodel Lea T will be taking part in the opening ceremony of the Olympics this year in Rio de Janeiro Lea T is a Brazilian supermodel who has worked with international fashion brands in Italy and was the first trans woman to be signed to an international beauty company. Her involvement in this year’s Olympic Games opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro is hoped to push a message of inclusivity and she told the BBC, “…the message is clear ... include everyone, no matter their gender, sexual orientation, race or religion. We are all human beings and we are part of society. My role at the ceremony will help send this message.” She went on to say "Like any other transsexual, I raise a flag. I'm talking about transsexuality because it is part of my history, but I'm just another member of this community. I know I have the privilege that the media listens to me, but the daily struggle of transsexual is equally important for LGBT people.” Brazil is one of the most dangerous places in the world for trans people, in the first month of 2016, at least 48 trans people were reported to have been murdered in Brazil according to Brazilian NGO Livre Orientação Sexual (Free Sexual Orientation). Between January 2008 and the 31st of December 2015 the Trans Murder Monitoring project says 802 trans people were murdered in Brazil, the highest number of trans people killed in the world. In January the International Olympics Committee relaxed the guidelines on transgender athletes who no longer have to have undergone sex reassignment surgery to compete.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 5th August 2016 - 9:32am