Model and entrepreneur Lauren Chan made queer history on the cover of Sports Illustrated swimsuit, which was once Tuesday.

“I was the first lesbian on the cover – with her My own Cover - How much does it mean to me, it makes surprises so overwhelming," Chen told People magazine: "That was the tears I felt about joy, celebration, relief, relief and community. ”

Olympic gold medalist and football icon Megan Rapinoe was the first gay lady to participate in a SI swimsuit in 2019, and she and her fiancé Sue Bird were part of a group cover photo last year, according to the magazine.

Chen, 34, said she took an image of the SI swimsuit problem in Bermuda in March when she didn't know she would be on the cover.

The magazine surprised her with actor, director and producer Salma Hayek Pinault. Social media influencer and former NCAA gymnast Olivia Dunne; and Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles - to have the cover of his own 2025 magazine, according to Chan's profile in SI swimsuit.

“Lauren Chan is rewriting the narrative of fashion,” said MJ Day, head of SI Swimsuit, in a statement on social media. “As a role model, activist and entrepreneur, why she wants to bring people to beauty in an inclusive, sincere and empowering way. As a writer, she challenges the narrow standards of the industry, providing a new horizon for all bodies and stories.”

Chan wrote an article for Si swimsuit in 2023 about her queer person in her 30s, divorced and appeared in Si swimsuit for the first time. In this post, she said she realized she was a lesbian during the pandemic, when she was a successful plus-size model and fashion editor for Glamor Magazine and for the first time in her inception, she was “forced to pause and find something relevant to her career”.

"So, why did I decide to wear a Si swimsuit? I spent my career representing a career that looks like me - I'm ready to celebrate our internal identity and celebrate us for us," Chan wrote at the time, adding that Si Swimsuit helped drive inclusion by having models with super-large, TransTress, TransTress, Super and over 70.

Chen said in her People’s interview that her entire career has been “based on representation and inclusion.” First, she said, she represents plus-size women as role models, fashion editors and founder of Henning, a large-sized clothing brand.

“Then I started the swimsuit journey,,,,, This has become a lot of people in LGBTQ and the AAPI community because I believe I am also the first Chinese on the cover of the swimsuit.” She continued. “So, while my career has taken different forms, it also follows the same Polestar, which is to represent people like me who feel marginalized and abandoned, making them feel not only included, but celebrated.”

Chen announced his engagement with writer director Hayley Kosan earlier this year, telling SI swimsuit that she and her prospective wife could see her cover at the airport not only as “beautiful photos” but also as a powerful message.

“When I grew up, I didn’t know I was weird because there was little representation and usually not positive, or it was so bizarre that I felt the particularity of this moment was that it took up a space that someone like me wouldn’t represent (previously) and claim that with pride,” Chan said.