Laith Ashley American model, actor, activist, singer, songwriter and entertainer Date of Birth: 06.07.1989 Country: USA

1. Early Life and Sports
2. Family and Coming Out
3. Transition and Education
4. Modelling Career
5. Acting and Music
6. Activism

Early Life and Sports

Leit Ashley was raised in a Dominican American family in Harlem, New York City. At the age of nine, he began participating in individual and team sports, including boxing, baseball, and basketball. He continued to excel in athletics throughout high school, competing on both boys and girls teams. The school's athletic director described him as the top athlete among both boys and girls.

Family and Coming Out

Leit Ashley was raised in a religious household, with his father being Catholic and his mother being a Pentecostal Christian. This influenced some of his family's perspectives when he came out as homosexual at age 17. However, he clarified that he did not identify as a lesbian, saying, "Because I was assigned female at birth, I thought I was a lesbian, even though I hated the word." This ultimately led him to transition to a transgender man in 2013.

Transition and Education

Ashley's medical transition began in January 2014 with masculinizing hormone therapy. He experienced a deepened voice and rapidly grew a beard. Nine months later, he underwent a double mastectomy and adopted the name Laith (meaning "lion" in Arabic). Ashley studied Business and Psychology at Fairfield University in Connecticut. He later worked as a social worker for homeless LGBTQ youth at the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center.

Modelling Career

In 2015, shortly after beginning his transition, Ashley organized a photoshoot with a friend and posted the images on Instagram. The images went viral, attracting both positive and negative attention. Ashley initially considered deleting his account but was encouraged to continue by actress Laverne Cox, who shared his images on her own account.

Ashley has since modeled for various platforms and campaigns, including Barneys, Calvin Klein, and Diesel (becoming the first transgender man to appear in a Diesel campaign). He has appeared on the covers of notable fashion and lifestyle publications, including British GQ, Vogue France, and Out Magazine.

Acting and Music

Ashley has pursued work in both music and television. In 2016, he appeared in "Strut," a reality television program about transgender models, which was produced by Whoopi Goldberg. He has also performed his own music, including his single "Can't Wait," at several events, including L.A. Pride. In 2018, he released a music video for his song "Before You Go."

Ashley became the first transgender member of RuPaul's Drag Race pit crew in 2018. He appeared in the "Pants Down Booty Up" mini challenge in season 10. He collaborated with Kay'Vion on the release of the latter's album in Braille, contributing to the single "Favorite."

Activism

Laith Ashley is an activist, particularly on issues surrounding transgender rights. He has worked with FLUX, a division of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation that focuses on raising awareness and providing support for transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals. He actively participates in Pride parades and has spoken out against transphobia and the erasure of minority voices.

Ashley has also taken part in numerous LGBTQ awareness campaigns, including T-Mobile's "We Are Bold" campaign and GLAAD's #GotYourBack. He has spoken about the challenges of transitioning, bullying, racism, and the importance of transgender visibility in the modeling industry.

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Ashley expressed his desire to be seen as more than just a transgender man: "I try to be open, more open than others may be. I try to think of it as a cis-gender person looking at their gender as different from my own, and if that's something they've never thought about or explored... It's okay for them to have a lot of questions. It's just how you ask them. You have to be delicate, at the least. I think it's important to talk about it, but we want people to know we're just like everybody else. Don't put us on display, on centerfolds and make it a spectacle. I want to show everyone that yes, I'm transgender, but that's not all that I am. That goes for all transgender people. My history, my transition, my identity—it's my own. Every person has their own identity, trans or not... There are people who are all the way male/female or female/male and there are people who are everything in between. I think before I was in the industry and working with the LGBTQ community, I was very masculine; now I feel more fluid."