A transgender model portrayed First Lady Michelle Obama on the cover of Candy Magazine in hopes of introducing the idea of the nation’s first transgender president.
Ever since President Barack Obama took office in 2008, minorities no longer felt it was impossible to earn their own spot in the White House.
The idea of Asian, Hispanic, and even women presidents weren’t so far fetched, but Candy magazine used the cover of their fifth issue to reveal there was still one minority group that wasn’t as close to grasping presidency.
Transgender model Connie Fleming posed as Michelle Obama – once with her hand on the Bible as if she was being sworn into office and again with a small American flag as she looks off hopefully into the distance.
Danielle Levitt took the photos for the magazine’s cover while Brad Goreski styled the faux Michelle Obama.
The publisher of the magazine, Luis Venegas, explained that it’s not the pictures themselves that are breath taking, but the story behind it as well.
“I especially love the cover story, which for the first time isn’t a super-popular star, but a fabulous, beautiful black woman channeling a politician who looks pretty much like Michelle Obama,” Venegas told Dazed Digital.
Although whether or not the model truly looks like a First Lady look-a-like is debatable, but the message is quite clear.
“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,” the publisher added. “At that time, I thought, ‘when will the time come when these archaic walls break down and the White House be occupied by, for example, a black, transsexual woman?’”
Unfortunately, the answer to that question may not be what Luis hoped. It will certainly be quite a while before America welcomes a transgender president considering the fact that the first black President is still receiving a lot of scrutiny simply over the color of his skin.
The president hasn’t even been able to mourn over the loss of the children who were killed in the CT shooting without social media sites becoming riddling with racist comments and threats towards the President.
During President Obama’s Sandy Hook vigil speech, Twitter was littered with racist tweets from people demanding that someone “get this ni**er off my TV Im tryna watch football.”
Not to mention the shocking number of threats that have been posed against the President along with several states starting petitions in attempts to secede from the nation.
The latest cover of Candy certainly has a strong message and conveys it in a clever manner, but whether or not America will be ready to accept it is another issue up for debate.
