Gigi Gorgeous, a transgender model and a very good friend of Kylie Jenner, ran into a serious problem while visiting Dubai this week.
In news broken by TMZ, Gorgeous was detained for several hours at the airport due to her transgender status.
Having risen to impressive levels of Internet fame for documenting her transition on social media, Gigi told the website that she was stopped at immigration.
“I was told you are transgender. You cannot come into the country,” Gigi explained to TMZ.
Gorgeous was born Gregory Lazzarato.
However, she says her passport has been updated since she her gender change and now reads “Gigi Loren.”
Airport police, however, claim the document describes Giig as male and the passport photo depicts Gigi as a male.
Gigi’s response to this assertion? It simply isn’t true.
It is sadly true that, in Dubai, the “imitation of women by men” is illegal and that violators face up to a year in prison.
It appears now as if Gorgeous is back in America, having updated her Instagram account with a photo of her friend, Nats Getty, hugging her at the airport.
She wrote a long caption along with the photo, detailing her ordeal overseas.
“After being detained and held at the Dubai airport for over 5 hours, this was the moment my baby came to rescue me,” Gigi wrote this morning.
“Yesterday was one of the scariest moments of my entire life and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.
How you can be denied entry somewhere just because of who you are is seriously disgusting and also very scary.”
She concluded:
“This further proves the need for CHANGE.
“I am now on my way to somewhere much more accepting. Safe and sound and happy. I love you guys.”
In 2014, Gigi made this significant change in her life, documenting the journey on social media.
As a result, she earned a large Internet following, having amassed over 2.3 million YouTube subscribers at last check.
Which is a great start. We obviously hope all of those subscribers are also supporters of Gigi.
Still, the transgender issue clearly remains a polarizing one not just here, but across the globe.
Let’s hope that changes soon.