A new petition, which has more than 30,000 signatures so far, is calling for Victoria’s Secret to feature a transgender model in its upcoming fashion show.
The Change.org petition stipulates that Carmen Carrera, who starred on RuPaul’s Drag Race, be enlisted to walk in the annual Victoria’s Secret show, thereby making history as the first-ever transgender supermodel.
Making Carmen, 28, the first trans supermodel, ‘will help to end femmephobia within the LGBTIQQA community,’ reads the petition, and ‘it will show the entire trans community that you embrace them as your patrons.’
New Jersey native Carmen, who was born a boy named Christopher, made a name for herself as a contestant on Logo reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race, where she placed fifth.
After the show, she publicly began her transition from a man to a woman and was subsequently signed by Elite Model Management.
While it’s unclear exactly how far along she is in her transition, she wrote on Facebook in March: ‘I have transitioned from male to female. I’ve crossed the finish line. Stop trying to pull me back. ‘
Something of an LBGT icon, Carmen has been featured twice in W Magazine and walked the runway for designer Marco Marco at LA Fashion Week last month.
Groundbreaking: A new petition, which has more than 23,000 signatures so far, is calling for Victoria’s Secret to feature transgender model Carmen Carrera in its upcoming fashion show
And if Carmen’s fans have their way, she’ll soon be hitting mainstream fashion as a lingerie model in Victoria Secret’s annual show, which is set to film next week and air on December 10.
Carmen’s fans have taken to the comments section on the petition to show their support.
‘The time has come for people to become educated on the difference between sex and gender,’ wrote one supporter. ‘Gender is an endless spectrum of endless possibilities.’
Another said: ‘Diversity in big corporations in key to acceptance. She’s a beautiful woman, just like the rest of the models.’
While the petition was launched by someone named Marco Regalado, apparently without Carmen’s knowledge, she has showed her appreciation for it via social media.
On Monday, she posted on Facebook: ‘I just want to say THANK YOU soooooo much to the fans who started this petition! I love you guys! Let’s share it and make it MAJOR!!!’
And in a tweet last month, which mentioned Victoria’s Secret, she wrote: ‘I would demolish that runway.’
If Victoria’s Secret bows to pressure and indeed enlists Carmen to walk the runway, she would be making history as the first-ever transgender to be given Angel wings.
But she’s not the only model to make headlines recently for her ambiguous gender.
Androgynous Serbian model Andrej Pejic is famous for his unique looks, which led to him walking both the women’s and men’s runways for Jean-Paul Gaultier in 2011.
Transformation: After starring on the show (pictured), Carmen began her transition from a man to a woman and was subsequently signed by Elite Model Management.
And that same year, transsexual Brazilian model Lea T, who was born male, made history when she was featured on the cover of Elle Brazil.
