Blessed be to the LGBTQ+ gods, Kim Petras graces the cover of the latest issue of Sports Illustrated. The pop singer and trans icon is seen in water wearing a gold bikini with her hands framing her trademark platinum locks. Not only does the trailblazer look beautiful, but she’s also coming off of a high having just made Grammy history: winning the award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance alongside Sam Smith for their song “Unholy.” Unfortunately, because the internet is not a wholesome place, there has been a gross transphobic backlash to Petras’ cover.
One user wrote on Twitter, “Listen, if you are an adult and want to identify as a different gender, be my guest, but the recent trend for companies and sports to feature and give top the awards/spots to trans women instead of biological women is more than concerning. Why are biological women being replaced in these spaces by biological men once again?” Others chimed in with more transphobic commentary, while people attempted to come to Petras’ defense at the same time.
Others called out right-wing outlets like Newsmax for transphobic coverage of the Petras cover. “The GOP platform is pretending kim petras isn’t hot,” one Twitter user wrote.
Petras made it a point in her accompanying SI interview to say though that she doesn’t want to just be known for being trans, and that while positive attention for her gender identity is reinforcing progressive ideals about equality, it shouldn’t be the only focus. She remarked, “I think what you do is the most important thing, not what your gender is,” adding, “No matter what your gender or sexuality or any of that stuff is, it’s about what you make of life and it’s about what’s inside of you and all of that, so I hope that can be inspiring to people.”
Sports Illustrated Editor-in-Chief MJ Day spoke on the publication’s vision saying, “There is no theme – rather, there is a vision, a sentiment, a hope that women can live in a world where they feel no limitations, internally or externally.” He added, “But the absence of a theme is not to say that [these women] don’t share certain common traits. They’re constantly evolving.” He also noted that Petras is an “inspiration for the LGBTQ+ community. [She] has blazed her own path to superstardom, but it has been anything but a straight line.”
There might be some backlash to Petras’ cover, but at the end of the day, that’s just a reflection on those people’s small-mindedness. Petras will continue to break records and set standards, and the support for her doing those things will hopefully be what is heard the loudest. The singer’s highly anticipated debut full-length EP, Feed The Beast, drops on June 23.
