(Screenshot via NowThis)

Transgender fitness model Ben Melzer will be on the cover of the April edition of Germany’s Men’s Health magazine. This makes Melzer the first trans person to be on the cover of a men’s fitness magazine in Europe.

“I started transitioning at the age of 23 and I always had a passion for fitness but because of the surgeries it was hard to achieve my goal,” Melzer, who was born Yvonne, told Towleroad about his fitness journey. “After about three years everything was finally done and I started to concentrate on my training and diet.”

Melzer got the opportunity to star on the cover after winning German Men’s Health cover model contest. In an interview with Bild.de, Melzer spoke about why being open about his trans identity is important.

“Many ask me: Why do you do this, why did you public and tell your story? But that’s easy to answer. When I was in that situation, I had nobody to talk to, nobody to ask all [these] questions,” Melzer told Bild.de. “That’s what I want to do. I want to give the community a face, stand up and answer those questions for people. If there is one person out there I can help, I will succeed.”

Melzer continued to Towleroad that hopefully being on the cover can normalize trans men.

“I wanna show the world that we’re just normal guys. I wanna educate and give hope to others,” Melzer told Towleroad.

The issue hits newsstands in March.

[fbvideo link=”https://www.facebook.com/NowThisNews/videos/1524771011186546/” width=”500″ height=”400″ onlyvideo=”1″]