Today, Friday, Mar. 31 is International Transgender Visibility Day, and all people should be celebrating the transgender community today. In a brilliant moment of visbility, trans model Andreja Pejic's GQ Portugal cover has debuted, and it's the first time ever that a trans person has covered the magazine. Pejic has long been one of the most well-known trans models in the industry, and she's only continuing to raise visibility for the trans community through her work and activism.
Pejic's work has been on the rise, and seeing her work for major cosmetics brands and with major fashion magazines has been nothing short of inspiring. Pejic's GQ Portugal cover is remarkable for its groundbreaking nature in the country. For the past several years, Portugal has been moving toward more a more equitable nation, and Pejic's cover is a beacon for the changes. According to Equaldex, Portugal now has both anti-discrimination legislation for gender identity in both employment and housing and allows legal gender changes — though they must be accompanied with surgery.
The GQ Portugal cover isn't Pejic first time breaking barriers for trans models. She was also the first trans model to have a spread in Vogue, and she has fronted a major makeup campaign for Makeup Forever. She's breaking barriers, and her GQ cover is another perfect example of it.
While Portugal is a country with more protections for the LGBTQ community, the country's more progressive attitudes doesn't dampen the groundbreaking nature of Pejic's cover. Instead, it acts as a beacon for other publications around the world to take note.
While publications like French Vogue have featured trans models on the cover, the trans community deserves more visibility in the world of fashion. Hopefully, the cover can act as a message that trans people's visibility matters in all forms of media.
Pejic's GQ Portugal cover hit shelves today, and I can't wait to see the inspiring, groundbreaking cover image hit social media. Pejic is an inspiration, and she's just going to keep breaking barriers.
