Vogue: Feature transgender twins Madelyn and Margo Whitley o
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Madelyn and Margo Whitley have seen their modelling careers flourish, but, as trans women, reaching this point has demanded courageous sacrifices. Signatories could encourage their appearance as the first transgender twins on a Vogue cover.

Name-calling. Assaults. Death threats. These and other forms of oppression were par for the course during Madelyn and Margo Whitley's schooldays. The sisters, who identified as male over their years at a Houston prep, came out as transgender in their early teens. Madelyn recalls how "We were not popular. We were not the cool kids. We were the ones that even the 'losers' made fun of." After completing their education, Madelyn and Margo went to New York. Their modelling careers have since flourished, appearing in campaigns for Vivienne Westwood, Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs. 

In September 2021, Ariel Nicholson became the first transgender model to grace the cover of U.S. Vogue. As Madelyn and Margo said in a recent interview with Metro - a UK freesheet tabloid newspaper - they now aspire to be the first transgender twins on any Vogue cover. In childhood, Madelyn and Margo were "...busy dreaming about...being women", whilst enduring others' perceptions that they were "...gross monsters". After formative subjection to abuse and amidst continuing receipt of online vitriol, may their objective be realised. It would, at the very least, denote a key moment for transgender representation. 

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Goal: 100

To Vogue Magazine.:

Dear Ms Wintour and the Board of Vogue,

I write to you regarding women’s and transgender empowerment.

When Vogue Paris featured Valentina Sampaio on a 2017 cover, it raised the profile of the first transgender model depicted by the magazine, and whose identity as such had seen Sampaio fired from her initial modelling job. When Vogue made Ariel Nicholson the cover subject of a 2021 issue, it introduced to a broader public the first transgender model represented in the U.S. edition. Here was somebody who, from early childhood, knew that she did not “belong as a boy”. The significance of Vogue having positioned Sampaio and Nicholson so prominently cannot be overstated.

In recent days, models Madelyn and Margo Whitley have said that appearing on any Vogue cover would, as the first transgender twins to do so, be a defining point in their careers. Such recognition could only augment Vogue’s history of trans-inclusive coverage, and convey the most resolute messages - of social justice, individual worth and shared humanity - to the transgender community. It would, to be blunt, constitute a pivotal juncture in the lives of two women who grew accustomed, in their teenage years, to intimidation, mockery and death threats.

Margo acknowledged how, online, the harassment persists, a chilling reminder that hate directed towards any trans person impedes the community’s collective welfare. Where a culture of aggression is perpetuated, an ethic of liberation must be sustained. Placing Margo and Maddie on the cover of Vogue would be a poignant chapter in their remarkable story, and altogether consequential for trans visibility.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Sam Cane

Campaign started by Sam Cane
0people have signed
Goal: 100
Campaign started by Sam Cane

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