For the magazines 50th anniversary issue Munroe “shows us how to change the world”
BY NIC CROSARA, IMAGE BY COSMOPOLITAN/JORDAN ROSSI
Throughout her career, model and activist Munroe Bergdorf has certainly earned the reputation of being a trailblazer. She’s consistently used her platform to advocate for a wide range of social issues from trans rights, feminism, anti-racism and mental health. Now in a beautiful moment for trans visibility, she graces the cover of the 50th anniversary issue of Cosmopolitan UK as the first transgender woman to do so.
On Instagram the model celebrated the moment writing, “I may be the first trans woman to feature on the cover of @cosmopolitanuk, but I certainly won’t be the last”. She also takes a moment to uplift and praise the three interviewers, sustainability writer Aja Barber, gender and identity reporter Vic Parsons and intersex rights activist River Gallo.
The magazine promoted the cover reveal on its Instagram account and shared a quote from Munroe. “I hope there’s a young trans girl looking at this cover thinking, ‘I can do it too and who I am is not going to hold me back’.”
In the interview, when asked by Aja about what galvanises her the change maker said, “I think the strength of Black women, and the resilience of being the most marginalised people on the planet. Knowing I’m part of that sisterhood gives me so much hope and strength.”
On trans rights discourse online, Munroe shares that, “We need to have these conversations in the read world and in the mainstream. To do that, we need to platform trans voices – we can’t keep being subjected to this nonsense of non-trans people offering up their opinions on a community they’re not part of”.
River asked Munroe about her hopes for a dream world 50 years from now. “I want people to interrogate what they have always taken as truth. Interrogate your bias. Interrogate everything you know. It’s such a freeing feeling.”
The magazine hits stands 21 January and I, for one, cannot wait to grab a copy.
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