Metro
A transgender model is suing a New York-based modeling agency for discrimination, saying her career was ruined by being branded “not masculine enough” to work in men’s fashion after her gender transition.
Canadian catwalk model Frances Coombe, 30, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday accusing Muse Model Management NYC and its president, Conor Kennedy, of violating her civil rights to protect gender identity.
Mr Coombe is seeking more than $300,000 in lost earnings and damages for emotional distress caused by loss of reputation and career. The lawsuit said:.
“It’s not surprising that models evolve their looks. I’ve been moving in a more androgynous direction for quite some time.” he told The Daily Beast in a statement..
The high-fashion model said several other models at Muse Model Management, both male and female, had also transitioned to androgynous looks, but they didn’t receive the same backlash.
Ms Coombe, who has stood in for the likes of Marc Jacobs and Gucci, told the agency she no longer wanted to model as a woman and wanted to work with men, but Muse “refused” and dismissed the contract “constructively.” It is said to have been discontinued. According to the suit.
Around October 2021, Ms Coombe, who identified as non-binary at the time, claimed that President Kennedy told her that there were no gender-neutral jobs in the industry and that he would recommend the job to a woman.
“In your modeling career, until you arrive on set, you are a girlfriend and a girlfriend, and non-binary models are not sought after during the casting process. “When you come to work, tell me your pronouns,” Coombs recalled Kennedy telling her. “I’m sending you to work in women’s clothing. You need to separate your personal and professional lives.”
Shortly after, Coombe arranged for a new digital photoshoot to be “rebranded as a model with a non-binary gender expression.”
During a photo shoot, Muse claimed that the art department refused to wear men’s clothing and “forced” her to wear a bikini.
He obtained a photo of himself taken as a man in January 2022 and submitted it to the agency the following month. Around that time, Coombe began taking testosterone, which caused him to look more masculine, according to the lawsuit.
In May his photo was removed from the website and not replaced until August. But in July, he requested a meeting with the agency and was told his appearance was not “masculine enough” to be included in the agency’s roster of male models, the suit says.
Shortly after, Coombe noticed a “dramatic decline” in job opportunities and income. Muse Model Management made comments suggesting this was due to a change in his gender identity, he claimed in the lawsuit.
According to the suit, Ms. Coombe subsequently resigned from the company she had worked for since 2011, claiming that she was “forced to resign” because she could no longer work in the male modeling field.
He is currently working as a male model for WE Speak Model Management.
Kennedy’s lawyer said in a statement to The Daily Beast on Wednesday that the lawsuit is “legally flawed.”
“Muse has represented Frances Coombe as a model for over 10 years. It is surprising that Frances, who we have worked with for 10 years, would file this meritless and legally flawed lawsuit. That’s unfortunate,” said lawyer Carlos Carvajal. “We look forward to exonerating Muse of any wrongdoing.”