American Apparel Debuts First Transgender Model: Great or Gimmicky?

by SodaHead Living Posted 2012/06/15 19:00:00

Related Topics: Fashion, American Apparel, Isis King, Transgender, Model, Gay, Rights, Pride, equality, Style, Ads, Apparel, President, New York, Clothing, American, LGBT, News, America

Read More

1,064 votes
Read all 1,050 opinions
Lightning Report View Results and Demographics + View Demographics

Loading Demographics... Click an icon to see demographic results Display unknown and private
	Great	603 votes	57%
	Gimmicky	461 votes	43%

June is LGBT Pride Month, making it the perfect time for American Apparel to debut its first transgender model, former "America’s Next Top Model" contestant Isis King. King, 26, appears in a series of new ads for the provocative clothing chain, wearing Pride Month T-shirts.

"American Apparel is showing bold leadership by being among just a few companies to include transgender people in its national ads," GLAAD President Herndon Graddick said in a statement. "The company’s statement that 'Gay is OK' will reach millions and send an important message in support of equality." King, 26, was the first transgender contestant on "Top Model," too. Do you think American Apparel is making a bold move toward equality by using her in their ads? Or is it just a gimmicky way to get attention?

+29

Add a comment above

Nilam 2012/06/15 22:03:12

Great

+36
geez people, when is society gonna grow up. why should anyone care about another persons preference? media has freely exposed sex, drugs, violence, and much much more and noone seems to have a problem with it, why all the fuss over gay? i personal dont enjoy being with someone of the same sex, but if someone else does, how is that even any of my business? i really dont see the big deal.........
>> See Replies

More polls by SodaHead Living

Anonymo... to LucidLoon 2012/06/15 22:20:28

As long as they don't look like they used to be a man, I can't really say anything about it. It's when you get ones that aren't suited to a woman's looks and clothes and they look horrendous, they look as bad as someone in drag or a fat person in tight clothes...

reply
rylie_love to Anonymo... 2012/06/15 22:14:31

+3
and we live by whose standards of what men and women should act like? yours? societies? F that, my life, my choices :)

reply
Anonymo... to rylie_love 2012/06/15 22:18:29

I hav a right to dislike whomever the hell I like. I find camp people annoying, I would prefer not to have to listen to them and watch them ponce around. And regarding transgendered people, as long as you can't tell, it's fine. It's when you can tell they used to be a guy or they don't look good as a woman, to me it looks as bad as a fat person in tight clothes...

reply
rylie_love to Anonymo... 2012/06/15 22:59:21

agreed but you don't see the fat person in tight clothes and scream LOOK AT THE FATTY!!!

reply
Anonymo... to rylie_love 2012/06/15 23:04:55

+1
No you don't, you don't do that to trannies either, you just either stare or make sure you don't look at them. Either way, people get uncomfortable.

reply
rylie_love to Anonymo... 2012/06/15 23:32:36

and that is their issue, not mine, not Isis :)

reply
Anonymo... to rylie_love 2012/06/16 10:17:10

You can't blame us though, I mean, someone dressed in drag always gets weird looks...

reply
rylie_love to Anonymo... 2012/06/16 16:31:28

well clowns usually get attention :-)

reply
Anonymo... to rylie_love 2012/06/16 17:43:04

Lol, true dat :P

reply
Fxckiin... to Anonymo... 2012/06/15 22:26:20

If I feel like I am a turtle and get surgery to become a turtle, will I be accepted into the LGBT community, too? Maybe, become a model for turtle food..

reply
Anonymo... to Fxckiin... 2012/06/15 22:32:43

+2
You might be accepted into the turtle community though... I don't like it being LGBT, I don't like being linked with the Trannies, I'm a gay guy, not a guy that doesn't know if he's a man or a woman...

reply
rylie_love to Anonymo... 2012/06/15 22:42:54

i don't like being in the LGBT as much as you don't like me being there. but we got stuck together. we share a common "closeted" past, i guess thats a similarity?

reply
Anonymo... to rylie_love 2012/06/15 23:06:33

Apparently so. Unfortunate. But people like to stick people in groups...

reply
rylie_love to Fxckiin... 2012/06/15 22:41:29

you are sooo clever! where do you come up with these AMAZING ANALOGIES? OMJ, can i have your autograph?

reply
Fxckiin... to rylie_love 2012/06/16 08:15:00

They've at least more relevance than yours do.. Lol

reply
rylie_love to Fxckiin... 2012/06/16 16:33:10

turtle people and transgenders? riiiiiight

reply
Fxckiin... to rylie_love 2012/06/16 20:46:55

Feeling like I am a turtle.. Feeling like I am a boy....
Riiight..

reply
Fxckiin... to Fxckiin... 2012/06/16 20:47:17

What would species make a difference if I am neither turtle nor boy?

reply
darazan to Fxckiin... 2012/06/15 22:02:33

+1
Some people honestly feel that they are not what gender they were born as. I have a friend that went through this. It wasn't an overnight decision. He spent years deciding if that was the right thing, going through the counseling and therapy for it before ultimately making the decision that he wanted to have the operation. Good for him, I say. It doesn't hurt anyone, and it's not a decision that's made lightly. He felt that he was a woman that was born a man, and now she's a woman, inside and out. Giving a transgender individual a job is not necessarily praising that decision. It's giving everyone an equal chance. All people deserve an equal chance, because all people are considered equal.

reply
Fxckiin... to darazan 2012/06/15 22:23:12

Feeling like you are something else, stems more along the lines of being crazy.. O.o
d

reply
rylie_love to Fxckiin... 2012/06/15 22:59:53

because you are the expert right?

reply
Fxckiin... to rylie_love 2012/06/16 08:14:32

And so are you, right?

reply
rylie_love to Fxckiin... 2012/06/16 16:34:06

being trans I have a lot more insight than yall

reply
nenenae 2012/06/15 20:50:33

Great

+4
To each his her own

reply
sockpuppet 2012/06/15 20:50:21

Gimmicky

+2
Just another marketing ploy that people LOVE because it engages them in some way. Doesn't seem to matter that it's all about making a buck from a previously unexplored demographic.

So: it's phony, but let people suck it up if they want to. Doesn't affect me.

reply
dvd 2012/06/15 20:47:35
Teresa 2012/06/15 20:46:47

Great

+2
I wouldn't choose her, but Jenna Talackova or Claudia Charriez

reply
Jackal to Teresa 2012/06/16 09:06:42

Wait... are they transgender too?

reply
Teresa to Jackal 2012/06/16 17:22:16

Yeah! Beautiful eh? With some is quite difficult to find the difference!

reply
Michael 2012/06/15 20:42:44

Great

+3
Good for them. I wouldn't date her, but that's fair because she wouldn't date me either.

reply
smitty 2012/06/15 20:41:32

Gimmicky

+2
Gay.

reply
Pookie to smitty 2012/06/15 20:57:51

+4
And you are..? straight and stereotypical, gays, bi's, transgenders, ect... are all people just like you. no more no less. get over yourself.

reply
smitty to Pookie 2012/06/15 21:11:23

+3
Ummm 'scuse me. If he/she wants to wear a shirt stating "Gay O.K." I like I can write... Gay.

Nah.. I won't get over myself. Now I guess you know all about me because I wrote 1 3 letter word. Please...

reply
Maximus to smitty 2012/06/15 21:05:05

+3
I don't want to meet a girl, kiss them, and love them to later find out they are Transgender!! This happened to my Nephew. They been together for a month. Thats really messed up because you really couldn't tellif she was a boy.

reply
smitty to Maximus 2012/06/15 21:13:28

+3
My wife used to hang out at a gay bar while we were dating 20 years ago with her friends. We dated for almost 6 years before we got married. In that 6 year period I went once. One of their friends was some dude that looked like a lady. Only reason I could tell he was a she because they forewarned me.

There ain't nothing natural about it.

reply
Maximus to smitty 2012/06/15 21:40:16

+2
Tell me about it, I got to my sis's house, he was furious and he/she was gone. My sis said they were fussing fighting as if they were on Jerry Show. My Nephew did not deserve that. I wish someone warned him, but were laughing about it now since it happened 2 months ago, after some therapy.

reply
smitty to Maximus 2012/06/15 21:44:09

+2
Man I have no clue how I would respond. It would be tough.

reply
rylie_love to smitty 2012/06/15 22:15:19

+3
ha

reply
Lili13 2012/06/15 20:41:31

Great

+2
At last people are trying to give the rights to gay people by doing something

reply
Pookie 2012/06/15 20:39:09

Great

+10
Honey, It's hard to be a Diamond in a Rhinestone world. I think she should be what she wants to be. She's apparently good at it too.

reply