TLC’s “ Say Yes to the Dress ” will break fresh ground later this month when the reality series features an openly transgender bride.
Hairstylist and makeup artist Gabrielle Gibson, 33, will select her wedding dress on the March 25 episode of “Say Yes to the Dress.” The New Jersey native, who works as a hairstylist and makeup artist, announced the news in a Feb. 28 Facebook post, along with a snapshot of herself posing in a lacy, mermaid-style gown at Kleinfeld Bridal in New York.
“This so super exciting and surreal to me all at the same time,” Gibson wrote on Facebook. Being picked to be on “Say Yes to the Dress,” she added, was “an amazing experience, and the crew was an absolute dream.”
Gibson will tie the knot with her fiancé, Jaden Rogers, in a “country chic” November ceremony. She isn’t the first openly trans bride to be featured on the franchise; that honor goes to Precious Davis, who appeared on “Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta” last year. She is, however, the first to appear on the original “Say Yes to the Dress,” which is based in New York.
Calling herself a “huge fan” of “Say Yes to the Dress,” Gibson told PinkNews that she’d like her appearance to help educate viewers on trans issues, even if it’s just in a small way. “With everything going on in the media surrounding violence towards trans women of color,” she said, “I wanted to show that we are people who just want to live and be happy.”
Being able to appear on the show, she added, was “a life experience and memory” that she will forever cherish. “It just felt so amazing to be treated as a bride and a human being, and not a sideshow,” she said. “It’s validating to know that someone thought I was interesting enough to be a part of the show and wanted to hear my story.”
Rogers, who also identifies as transgender, feels similarly. “I hope that we serve as an inspiration for those out there who have ever felt unwanted, to know that we are here living as our true selves,” he told LGBTQ blog Unicorn Booty, “and that trans women of color are beautiful and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”
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