Meet Amelia Gapin The First Transgender Cover Star Of Women’s Running
Amelia Gapin has become the first transgender woman to feature on the cover of Women’s Running magazine [Photo: Instagram/womensrunningmagazine]
The cover of the July issue of Women’s Running magazine looks much like the other covers of the popular sports and fitness mag. But it’s unique for one pretty special reason: it features the magazine’s first-ever transgender cover star.
Say hello to 33-year-old, Amelia Gapin. She’s pretty badass, not least for her sporting prowess that has seen her compete in eight marathons, but also because she beat 3,000 other cover star hopefuls to make history fronting The Body Issue of the running mag.
“Being a transgender woman on the cover of a magazine dedicated to women says people like me are not just being seen, but being seen for who we are,” Gapin told the magazine in her cover interview.
“It’s a feeling of acceptance, inclusivity and being welcomed.”
Amelia uses running as a way of coping with the emotions of her transition [Photo: Instagram/entirelyamelia]
Amelia started transitioning four years ago with hormone treatments and decided to undergo gender reassignment surgery in order to achieve her goal of competing in the Boston Marathon as a woman (something she couldn’t do without the surgery),
The 33-year-old software engineer and co-founder of MyTransHealth first took up the running baton almost nine years ago and says the sport was key in helping her work through the emotions that came with transitioning.
“Running has always been there for me and that didn’t change when I transitioned,” she told Buzzfeed Health.
“I actually relied on it pretty heavily to get through a lot of the heavy emotional and mental parts of transitioning.”
The cover should go some way to increase the visibility of trans women in sports [Photo: Instagram/womensrunningmagazine]
Though Amelia isn’t the only transgender woman to have fronted the cover of an International magazine – Caitlyn Jenner appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair last year – this is the first time a trans person has been the cover star of a major sports or fitness magazine.
And her cover star status will hopefully go some way in increasing the visibility of trans women in sports.
“It’s important for Women’s Running to show that there is not one definition of what a runner’s body should be,” the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Jessica Sebor, said in a press release.
“We are so grateful to Amelia for gracing the cover of our Body Issue. She is brave, beautiful, and wholly herself.”
Told you she was badass!
What do you think of the cover? Let us know @YahooStyleUK
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