The Amazing Reason Why This Man's Magazine Cover Made History

[news]

The April edition of Men's Health Germany magazine will break fresh ground by featuring transgender fitness model Ben Melzer on its cover.

The shoot will make Melzer, 27, the first openly transgender person to grace the cover of a men's fitness magazine in Europe, Pink News reports. The issue will hit newsstands next month. 

Melzer, who began transitioning at 23, nabbed the cover after entering a national contest, and told Towleroad that his aim is to "show the world that [transgender men are] just normal guys."

What an awesome and exciting day! Hard work finally pays off! No matter if I win the cover or not, this is a life goal for me! #meinCover #menshealth SO KRASS HIER LEUTE! ANSTRENGEND UND AUFREGEND ZU GLEICH! DRÜCKT MIR DOE DAUMEN ? much #fingerscrossed #fit #fitness #ftm #ftmmodel #model #motivation #instagood #inspiration #healthy #life #love #lifestyle #instadaily #workout #powerful #strength #transformation #training #transman #transgender #transguy #believe #focus #workhard #trainhard #germany #hamburg

A photo posted by Benjamin Melzer (@egoshooter) on Jan 16, 2016 at 7:46am PST

His life before his transition, he said, was anything but typical. 

"I always had a passion for fitness, but because of the surgeries it was hard to achieve my goal," he said. "After about three years, everything was finally done, and I started to concentrate on my training and diet." 

Now, however, he is "very happy with the person" he's become, and wants to use the publicity generated by the magazine to shed light on transgender issues. 

"My inside and my outside finally fit and that's why I'm not at all ashamed to talk about it," Melzer told Bild.de, as seen in the subtitled video above. "If there is one person out there I can help, I will succeed." 

Time to get up and rock the gym #instagood #goodmorning #gym #fit #fitness #ftm #model #ftmmodel #fitguy #transguy #training #workout #transman #transgender #transformation #picoftheday #believe #workhard #tattoo #abs #fitspiration #inspiration #motivation #instadaily #strength #focus #follow

A photo posted by Benjamin Melzer (@egoshooter) on Dec 28, 2015 at 12:04am PST

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