STRAP Leads The Way In The Philippines Trans Pageant Debate

As I've pointed out a few times in blog posts and am quite aware of, the Philippines is a serious pageant loving nation. 

It is also the home of the Amazing Philippine Beauties pageant, one of the world's premiere beauty pageants for trans women.

STRAP chair Naomi Fontanos and I have had conversations in the wake of the latest Miss Universe contests when we were done catching up on each other's lives and talking shop in which we discussed those pageants with ESPN sports analyst like precision. 

So it didn't surprise me that the Talackova flap would make its way across the Pacific to the Philippines where there is discussion and heated debate building in that nation about the opening up of the Miss Universe system pageants around the world next year to trans women.    

The STRAP women and their allies are leading the way to insure that the debate in their nation is a reasoned, informed and educated one and not one that devolves into being founded on ignorant stereotypes and faith-based disinformation about trans women.

Check out the videos to see what I'm talking about.   The report is in English, Naomi pops in to speak a few minutes into the first one.




Part 2


Naomi also had an appearance on a local television news show Wednesday night Philippines time (Tuesday on our side of the International Date Line)  in which she was paired with former Miss Philippines and 1999 Miss Universe 1st runner up Miriam Quiambao who is opposed to transwomen competing in the pageant.

According to a comment posted on Fontanos' FB page:. 

1999 Bb. Pilipinas (Miss Philippines) & Miss Universe 1st Runner-up Miriam Quiambao. Miriam does not believe that transgender women are women and should join the Miss Universe.

In a tweet, she asked, "What ever happened to the essence of a woman?" Well, for me the essence of a woman goes beyond her reproductive capacity. Women are multidimensional beings and should not be reduced to a singular aspect of themselves. The essence of being a woman is her existence, the truth and reality of her life that she herself has shaped.

And to piggyback on your eloquent comment sis, gender is between your ears, not your legs.

STRAP is considered one of the premiere trans rights organizations on the planet, and in their 10th anniversary year they are proving once again why they are held in such high esteem by international trans activists around the world.