Outrage as magazine uses transgender model to pose as Michelle Obama
Daily Mail: A striking transgender model made up to look like Michelle Obama being sworn into office has been put on the front cover of a U.S. magazine.
Luis Venegas, publisher of the first transsexual style magazine Candy, said he put model Connie Fleming on the front cover because he was inspired by the idea that a black, transsexual woman could one day be president of the United States.
The split front cover shows New York model Fleming being sworn into office and waving a U.S. flag accompanied by the headline ‘The Candydate’. Fleming is dressed in typical First Lady fashion, down to the pearl necklace. Even the hair style is reminiscent of the President Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle.
Publisher Venegas told Dazed Digital that he was inspired by the idea that a ‘black, transsexual woman’ could someday be president of the United States’. ‘I especially love the cover story, which for the first time isn’t a super-popular star, but a fabulous, beautiful black transwoman channeling a politician who looks pretty much like Michelle Obama.
‘I remember back in early 2007 when the Democratic Party’s nominees were narrowed down between two ‘controversial’ stereotypes never before seen for presidency: a black man, Barack Obama; and a woman, Hillary Rodham Clinton. At that time, I thought, ‘when will the time come when these archaic walls break down and the White House will be occupied by, for example, a black, transsexual woman?’
Connie Fleming is described on website database of New York transsexuals as ‘a living doll, a multi-talented lady with a promising career as stylist and designer’s assistant. ‘She is also a veteran of the Paris and New York runways (most notably for Thierry Mugler,) the Tokyo club performance scene, and many important New York nightclub cults, from The House of Field and Boy Bar to her work as a Mistress of Ceremonies at Jackie 60.
The Winter 2012 Connie Fleming front cover will be the magazine’s fifth issue, having already dressed James Franco, Chloe Sevigny and Andrej Pejic in drag for previous covers.
The magazine describes itself as being ‘completely dedicated to celebrating transvestism, transsexuality, cross dressing and androgyny, in all its manifestations. ‘CANDY is a magazine for everybody. A space for individual freedom, and a publication that pushes people to take on the persona of what they always wanted to be.’
Why the outrage about the cover? Isn’t imitation the sincerest form of flattery?
DCG
