On an episode of her talk show, airing Tuesday, Tyra Banks gives away a sex-change operation to Isis King, a transgendered woman who appeared on America’s Next Top Model. I’d like to see Oprah put that shit under everyone’s seats. Ha ha! NO PUN INTENDED!

“This is not happening!” King, who was born Darrell Walls, says when Banks introduces her to Dr. Marci Bowers, a leading gender reassignment surgeon who has experienced the surgery herself. Bowers is paying for the surgery.

“[I feel] like I’m about to wake up,” says King - who lived in a homeless shelter in Maryland before trying out for the show.

The 22-year-old hadn’t gone under the knife yet because she couldn’t afford the $20,000 to $35,000 price tag.

“It’s hard. I try not to think about it because it is something I’m really passionate about,” she says. “I feel like I really was born in the wrong body, and it’s just the one thing that makes me feel uncomfortable.”

I mean, hey, if Howard Stern can give out boob jobs and labiaplasties left and right, Tyra Banks can sure as hell give out vaginas, right?

Rock on, Ty-Ty.

Since it’s apparently Gay Day in the news today, it’s fitting that the AP would run a piece on Isis King, the transgender model in this season’s America’s Next Top Model. I haven’t been watching the season, but I found the profile fascinating.

In New York, King had also had run into obstacles. The $4,500 she had saved to move to the city had dried up, and she needed help getting back on her feet. She moved into an apartment provided by The Ali Forney Center, an organization that serves homeless gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth.

“Technically, I was homeless,” King said. “I just wasn’t living literally on the street.”

In late 2007, America’s Next Top Model filmed an episode in New York to raise awareness about homeless youth. The contestants modeled in street clothes and a handful of homeless youth donned couture, serving as extras in the shoot.

King was one of them.

When Banks later scrutinized models’ photos for judging, “she kept on noticing Isis,” executive producer Ken Mok said. “And she said, ‘Who is that girl?’”

King clearly knew how to pose, understood fashion and was passionate, he said.

Earlier this year, Top Model found King and invited her to audition for the new season.

The AP story also notes that transgender characters and actors have become slightly more prevalent on TV recently, citing Candis Cayne’s stint on Dirty Sexy Money and Alexandra Billings’ run on Grey’s Anatomy.

Very cool to see more acceptance for transgendered individuals, even if I do still kind of think the ANTM thing is a ratings ploy.

More video of Isis is after the jump.

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