As much as some of my friends look down upon my habitual need to watch Americas Next Top Model, I can’t help but think this cycle is something different. This cycle has potential to be the cycle to be remembered. This cycle represents, after ten cycles, a new beginning.
This cycle includes a transgendered girl named Isis Tsunami.
The show usually airs on Wednesday, but I was a little too busy to catch the season opener until last night. The two hour journey from 30 girls down to 14 left me breathless and crying. Sure ANTM has had lesbians before. Sure, they’ve had the biggots, the racists, the homophobes, and the spoiled rich kids. But this time it’s different. There is a trans competitor, and she is out of the starting gate with an incredible lead.
Isis was featured in a photo shoot last season and seemed to catch the eye of everyone on the panel. It’s quite understandable too, as Isis is a girl who’s been a part of the ballroom community. And let me tell you, Mr. Jay Alexander, one of the ANTM coaches and judges and walking coach to the world, has a very similar pedigree. Except Jay is Jay and always will be Jay.
The truth is, this is huge.
Having Isis on screen is something even bigger than a trans actress in a movie or film. She’s playing herself. For better or worse, ANTM is a contest about beauty and an industry that tolerates very little outside of a few standardized images. Thus far, Isis firmly fits that mold. And thus far, already the media and internet is a-buzz with interest.
I hope that no matter if Isis wins or loses (secretly I want that bitch at the top!) the world sees the depth of inclusion that’s being demonstrates. Yes, it’s a superficial industry, yes, it’s a beauty and talent show, and yes, it’s about something that isn’t the ideal for most.
However, at the end of the day, the inclusion of Isis in this contest proves that we really can do anything if we put our mind to it, no matter if you are G, L, or T.
Work it girl. Work it for all of us. Prove the haters wrong.