Lavender Haze by Taylor Swift: Trans model stars in music video
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Taylor Swift has released the highly anticipated music video of Lavender Haze and shared screen space with trans model and actor Laith Ashley. The singer took to Instagram to announce the video and talk about her co-star.
"The Lavender Haze video is out now. There is lots of lavender. There is lots of haze. There is my incredible costar Laith Ashley who I absolutely adored working with," she wrote. He responded by saying: "Thank you, Taylor Swift, for allowing me to play a small part in your story ...Thank you for being an ally and for continuously using your platform for good. Representation matters. And love will always win!"
Laith is one of the first transgender male models to appear in a national campaign in the US. He first came out as homosexual at 17 but never called himself a lesbian and realised he is transgender at the age of 19.
He told Elle magazine that he does not want to be put on any sort of pedestal or say that he represents all of the LGBT community because that will not be fair. He added that representation on a platform as large as Taylor Swift's is important. "I've gotten thousands of messages from young trans people and trans people of all ages saying how important and how huge it is for someone with the platform that Taylor Swift has, especially in the times that we're in now," he added.