LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Paris Lees became the first openly transgender woman to feature in British Vogue fashion magazine on Friday, marking a step towards a “more tolerant society”, said the broadcaster and model.

Lees dons a sleek, black dress designed by Yang Li and strikes a pose among a group of women ranging from politicians to online bloggers, hailed by the magazine as a new kind of suffragist.

“When I was growing up you rarely saw trans people in the media and only then as objects of pity, ridicule or disgust,” Lees told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“We are in the middle of a global movement where trans people are asking to be treated with the same respect as everyone else in society,” she said.

Inside the avant-garde magazine’s February issue, Lees is profiled in a story entitled “Meet the New Suffragettes,” celebrating 100 years since women in Britain gained the right to vote. Read more via Thomson Reuters Foundation