Playboy To Feature First Ever Transgender Playmate In Next Magazine

Playboy has always been known for pushing the envelope and the magazine is again making headlines with its first ever transgender playmate.

The adult magazine announced this week that for the first time in its 64-year history there will be a transgender model as this month's playmate. French model Ines Rau, 26, will be the November centerfold, which is the first Playboy magazine since founder Hugh Hefner passed away.

Cooper Hefner, Playboy's chief creative officer, spoke with The New York Times about the decision to make Rau the centerfold model, and considered it part of the "brand's philosophy."

"(It) very much speaks to the brand's philosophy," Hefner told The New York Times. "It's the right thing to do. We're at a moment where gender roles are evolving."

The announcement received support, but as many would expect also plenty of backlash. Playboy's official Twitter account got plenty of negative responses following the announcement of Rau as the first ever transgender playmate.

"I've seen a lot of hateful comments," Rau said in that same New York Times story. "I would have never thought about people being so transphobic. I knew we still had a lot of work to do to get to a point where people see trans women as women, but I would have never thought of that."

While Rau will become the first ever transgender playmate, she is not the first transgender woman to pose in the magazine. Playboy tweeted a photo on Thursday of the first ever transgender model, Tula, to pose in the September 1991 edition of Playboy.

The issue will hit newsstands on Oct. 31.

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• Transgender