First openly transgender woman in British Vogue

A model, writer and campaigner has become the first openly transgender woman to be featured in British Vogue.

Paris Lees is included in a feature celebrating 100 years since women have had the right to vote in the UK.

She is joined by writer Reni Eddo-Lodge, Women’s Equality Party’s Sophie Walker, artist Gillian Wearing, MP Stella Creasy, blogger Dina Tokio and Gal-Dem magazine founder Liv Little.

Lees thanked the magazine for including her in the “special moment”.

“Look how far we’ve come,” she said.

“It’s insane that I could be in Vogue. A trans kid from a council estate.

“People at school told me I’d never be a girl, would never be pretty enough, would never be accepted – well here I am being celebrated as a woman.”

April Ashley, one of the first Britons to undergo genital reconstruction surgery, modelled for Vogue in the 1950s. She was outed by tabloids as trans in the 1960s.

In 2017, French Vogue featured a transgender model on its cover for the first time.

And in 2014, American Vogue profiled trans model Andreja Pejic.

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