Transgender model Lea T says LGBT people are still being discriminated against

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The 34-year-old Brazilian, who was born a boy named Leandro Medeiros Cerezo, has modeled for the likes of Givenchy and Redken
She claims in a new interview that though there is 'much more visibility with' Caitlyn Jenner, there is still 'work we need to do' for LGBT rights

Published: 16:24 EST, 25 October 2015 | Updated: 21:00 EST, 25 October 2015

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Transgender model Lea T has hit back at those who believe that discrimination against LGBT people no longer exists, saying there is still 'work we need to do'.

The 34-year-old, who has modeled for Givenchy and Redken, is currently on a break from modelling, but recently opened up to New York Magazine about today's existing trans issues.

As one of the first transgender models to front campaigns for major beauty brands, Lea was representing trans women long before Caitlyn Jenner appeared on the scene.

Telling it like it is: Brazilian transgender model Lea T, 34, claims that there is still 'work we need to do' as a society when it comes to the acceptance of LGBT people

Model beauty: Lea T is currently on a break from modelling, but addressed the current issues facing trans people in an interview for New York Magazine

However, she reveals that 'something has changed' since the former Olympian made her transition.

'When I started, we were more like jumping in the dark, you know? We didn’t think about being first, because we always existed,' Lea told the publication. 'Now it's getting better. There’s much more visibility with Caitlyn.'

But the model was also quick to add that 'there is a still lot of discrimination' in some areas of the United States and, in particular, her home country of Brazil.

'We don’t have to be like, "OK it's fine", because it’s not fine,' she added. 'Believe me, I come from Brazil where we are the No. 1 country with more criminality about homophobia and being transgender.

'I’m seeing what we did, but we need to do much more. We shouldn’t think that now it’s done because it’s still really hard.'

Taking steps: Lia T claimed that, while Caitlyn Jenner (pictured) has given 'much more visibility', acceptance of trans people has a long way to go in places like Brazil, Iran and some areas of the United States

Strutting her stuff: Lea T pictured walking the catwalk at Rio Fashion Week in June 2011 for designer Blue Man

The stunning brunette also said that the difference between acceptance and discrimination when it comes to trans people can come down to 'if you look beautiful or if you have money', citing her own personal experience of being complimented on her feminine figure in contrast to another transgender woman who was 'not lucky in the body'.

'We are not all the same; we don’t need to have all the same prototype. In beauty, when there is a prototype, you become a slave of this icon, of this canon of beauty,' she said. 'But you need to see inside the person.'

Certainly one of the lucky ones, Lea T was invited by Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci to be the face of his fall/winter 2010 campaign so that she would be able to afford her gender reassignment surgery.

Got the goods: Lea added that the difference between acceptance and discrimination of trans people is 'if you look beautiful or if you have money'

Breaking boundaries:Lea was the muse for Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci and appeared in the label's fall/winter 2010 campaign before her sex reassignment surgery in 2012 (pictured second from right)

Fashion star: Since appearing in the Givenchy campaign in 2010, Lea has achieved a huge amount of success and was named as face of haircare brand Redken in 2014

The designer brought her on after discovering that the model was considering going into prostitution to raise fund for the procedure after her family's reaction to her coming out 'was not good'.

'So she called me one day at six in the morning, and she was destroyed. Destroyed,' the designer told Details. 'And she said, "I want to prostitute myself. I want to go to the street because I don't have money to do it, my family doesn't give me the money, and I don't care what I have to do for it. For once in my life, I understand what I want to be, and nobody is going to stop me."

'The fact that she told me that she wanted to be a prostitute, it killed me,' he said.

The campaign served to launch Lea's modelling career, and she has since been featured in the likes of Vogue Paris, Interview Magazine and Love Magazine. In 2014 she became the first openly transgender model to front a global beauty brand's campaign when she was announced as the face of Redken.