Welcome to the Evolving Man Project’s “Evolved Man of the Week” profile. Each week we will highlight an individual that embodies what it means to be an evolved person, famous and non-famous individual alike. The world needs to know their stories and deeds. This week’s honor goes to the model, actor, activist, singer-songwriter, and entertainer Laith Ashley.
Laith grew up in a Dominican American household in Harlem, New York. He practiced individual and team sports and, by age 9, was already into boxing, baseball, and particularly basketball, his preferred sport. He continued playing sports into high school, including competitively, sometimes in the boys’ team. The school’s athletic director named him the top athlete amongst both boys and girls.
Laith was raised in a church-oriented family, his father being Roman Catholic and his mother a Pentecostal Christian, which influenced some of the attitudes held by his family during his coming out. First, Laith came out as gay when he was 17 years old, although he never called himself a lesbian. He explained, “Being assigned female at birth, I thought I was a lesbian, even though I hated the word.” Later, at age 19, he realized he was transgender after watching videos produced by trans people on YouTube. This prompted him to come out as a trans man in 2013. Laith began medically transitioning in January 2014 with masculinizing hormone therapy. His voice deepened, and he quickly grew a beard. Nine months later, he had a double mastectomy and adopted the name Laith (meaning “lion” in Arabic), having admired the works of Laith Hakeem.
Laith attended business school and studied psychology at Fairfield University in Connecticut. He subsequently worked at Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, where he worked with LGBT homeless youth as a social worker.
In January 2014, Laith began his transition process. Soon after, in 2015, Laith organized a photo shoot with a friend and posted the images on Instagram. The images caused viral attention, and many people posted negative comments. He was on the verge of deleting his Instagram account due to the negative comments, but Laverne Cox reposted his images on her account. This helped inspire him to continue his online presence.
In addition, Laith has done musical and television work. In 2016, Laith appeared in Strut, a television program about transgender models produced by Whoopi Goldberg. In June 2018, Ashley performed his music, including his single “Can’t Wait” at L.A. Pride. The bill included acts such as Jessica 6, Icona Pop, Keke Wyatt, Eve, Cece Peniston, Kim Petras, Jesse Saint John, Allie X, Gio Bravo, Karisma, and Saturn Rising. In September 2018, Ashley released a music video for his song “Before You Go.” Furthermore, in 2018, Laith became the first transgender pit crew member in RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Laith Ashley shared his thoughts on fitness, a Men’s Health magazine.
“As a youth, my philosophy was harder, faster, stronger. No matter what you’re going through, you push through it.”And as I got older,” he went on, “and I learned that we also have to be kind to our bodies and take care of them for prolonged health, I started to take it easier.”
Laith Ashley is an activist, mainly for trans right’s. He worked with FLUX, a division of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which is dedicated to raising awareness and providing support to trans and gender-nonconforming people, actively takes part in Pride parades, and has talked on numerous occasions of the dangers of transphobia and visibility of ethnic minorities. He has also appeared in many LGBTQ public awareness campaigns, including a high-profile campaign by T-Mobile, the “We Are Bold” campaign by AT&T, and GLAAD.
He has also talked about the challenges of transitioning, bullying, racism, and, notably, the visibility of transgender people in the modeling industry.
Here is Laith Ashley on being your true self.
The world is so vast. It’s so diverse—why would anyone want to be the same as someone else? We should be able to participate in society, feel welcomed, and live day to day without fear. To be able to share moments with your family—whether that’s biological or chosen—and continue to learn and grow. You should have a full view of the world and the types of people in it so that everyone feels seen and noticed. And to keep learning is incredible. Learning makes me feel alive, and it makes me want to keep going.
Today we honor Laith Ashley as our Evolved Man of the Week.
Evolving Folks Project 