Fitness model Ben Melzer is set to become the first ever out transgender man to appear on the cover of Men’s Health magazine, appearing on the April cover of the German edition.
In a video released to announce the cover, Melzer says, “This is me and I’m very happy with the person I became. My inside and my outside finally fit and that’s why I’m not at all ashamed to talk about it”.
Melzer, who began his transition when he was 23, says people ask him why he is so public about his story. “That’s easy to answer,” he explains: “When I was in that situation I had nobody to talk to, nobody to ask all these questions… I want to give the community a face, stand up and answer those questions for people. If there is one person out there I can help, I will succeed”.
Although trans visibility has been increasing in recent years, with Caitlyn Jenner’s iconic Vanity Fair cover, the hit TV show Transparent, film Tangerine and a number of vocal trans writers and activists, transgender men are far less visible than their female counterparts, something this groundbreaking cover is helping to change.