Leyna Bloom Is The First Trans Woman Of Color To Be Featured In Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue
According to Good Morning America, Bloom faced prejudice for many years, including losing a dance scholarship when transitioned. She also faced homelessness throughout her life.
But she continued to focus on her dream while being homeless in New York City.
“The dream was feeding me while I was starving in my body,” she said.
In the years since then, Bloom has found breakthrough opportunities in fashion and movies. One of her groundbreaking moments came in Port Authority, the first feature film to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival featuring a transgender woman of color in a leading role.
The trailblazing model, who is Black and Filipina, said she never imagined that she would be “born in a time when something like this would happen to someone with her skin tone.”
“This is a magazine that says that we are allowed to be beautiful in all our shapes and sizes,” she told GMA. “We’re not often seen in that way.”
MJ Day, editor-in-chief for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, said she wants all the models “to feel like they have a seat at the table, a right to be there.”
“We need to constantly remind ourselves to protect those people in our society that are different, that are beautiful uniquely as themselves, to go out in the world and do what they’re destined to do, which is to challenge society to make it better for everyone else,” Bloom said.
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