gay shirtFirst, the Miss USA pageant decides to allow transgender contestants, and now a major apparel company, American Apparel, has its first transgender spokesmodel. It's none other than Isis King, whom you may recognize from America's Next Top Model.

Isis didn't make it far into her cycle of ANTM, but she came back for the All-Stars season, and now she's been signed to American Apparel for a series of ads.

I think this is all well and good and great and blah blah, but Isis is seen modeling gay pride-themed T-shirts with mottos like, "Legalize Gay." I'm actually not quite sure what that means. It's not illegal to be gay anymore, though I suppose sodomy is still on the books in some states. Maybe they mean "Legalize Gay Marriage"? I dunno.

Isis was discovered by Tyra Banks when she was scouting for models for her reality show, and she was clearly always a favorite of the supermodel. At the time she appeared on the show, Isis was homeless. Most of ANTM's winners haven't gone on to big time modeling success -- in fact, Isis would be one of the few to sign a contract with a large retailer.

I think it's great that American Apparel signed her, but I think it would be even more great if Isis modeled some flowery summer dresses too, without all of the political posturing. And if she wasn't even identified as being transgender. Of course, I guess the whole point is to get the transgender thing out there -- to make it more acceptable to people, and to have young people who are transgender or thinking along those lines to see someone in the pages of a magazine whom they can relate to.

But Isis is a pretty young woman, and it would be great to also just see her modeling and not being an activist for anything other than a cute outfit.

What do you think of Isis?

 

Image via American Apparel