Taylor Swift Embraces Transgender Representation In New Music Video

On Friday night, Taylor Swift released a brand-new music video for her song “Lavender Haze,” in which transgender model Laith Ashley plays the role of her romantic lead. He and other transgender individuals were grateful for Swift’s decision to cast a trans man to embrace transgender representation.

Fans of Taylor Swift, otherwise known as “Swifties”,  have flocked to this premiere of her ground-breaking new music video.

Ashley, whose given name is Laith Ashley De La Cruz, thanked Taylor Swift on Instagram for letting him be a “small part” of Swift’s tale. “I will never forget our time together; you are that amazing. That happened, and it was like magic.” Since its release, Ashley has called it one of the most “affirming” events of his life. Fans all around the world have thanked the artist for doing the same.

Laithe Ashley’s Thank You Message on Instagram

watch the music video for “lavender haze” down below

Swift appears shirtless in a lavender pool while boldly singing the song’s lyrics in the music video.

Swift is shown dancing in a mist, singing while wearing a blue fur coat, and getting intimate with the model in a bedroom and a nightclub throughout the ’70s-themed video.

Taylor defined the phrase and shared the context of her first encounter with it in an Instagram video posted the same year (October 2022). She started by stating, “Lavender Haze” is the album’s first single. “I was watching Mad Men and heard the term lavender haze for the first time. Having heard a fantastic rumor about it, I decided to investigate. And as it turns out, the term was often used in the 1950s to convey the emotion of love. Simply said, to be in the “lavender haze” is to be bathed in an all-pervasive loving radiance.

She went on to describe her experience of being in this stage of love.

Grammy winner said that she thinks, hypothetically, “when you’re in the ‘lavender haze,’ you’ll do everything to remain there.” And don’t allow anybody knock you down from that lofty place. We live in the technological age of social media, and when the media finds out if you’re in love with someone, they’re likely to weigh in on it, so I believe a lot of people are now required to deal with this, not just, like, prominent personalities.

Who is Laith Ashley?

Ashley was born in 1989 to Dominican American parents in Harlem. He has since spoken to Vogue France about his experiences being transgender. Ashley recalled feeling “misaligned” about his body and gender expression even as a young child. At the time lacked the words to express this.

He began his transition back in 2014, twenty years later.

Ashley told British GQ in 2018 that he “tried to pray the gay away” due to tensions between his religious background and sexuality. He claims that his aunt told his parents about his sexual orientation when he was 17 years old, and that they were originally not supportive but have since come around.

He didn’t see internet videos of other trans individuals until he was 19 and in business school; these films showed him that both medical and social transition were attainable for him, too. At the age of 23, Ashley came out as trans and, at a friend’s suggestion, tried out for a casting call at the New York City department store Barneys, which debuted a trans-specific marketing campaign in 2014. The model hadn’t been anticipating hearing anything, but he did.

He is currently a model and actor who has been in several publications. He was also featured on television shows including Pose and RuPaul’s Drag Race. Fans and supporters have welcomed Swift’s casting of trans people in this music video since she first revealed it in October. This comes particularly in light of recent attacks on trans rights around the nation.

Nonetheless, Laith Ashley has become a household figure in the years thereafter, both in his work as a model and his budding acting career. 

Now, he focuses on embracing the push and humanization for embracing transgender representation.

Mic Drop Music is looking forward to what Ashley has in store next.

Picture of Laithe Ashley who embraces transgender representation.

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