It took America's Next Top Model 11 seasons before Isis King broke ground as the first open trans woman to appear on the show. Its Korean counterpart took only three seasons to do so.
I've talked about Choi Han-bit, the now 26 year old transwoman who came in second on the 2009 edition of the Open Hall show that is a televised model search competition. She was one of 1,200 contestants who started but the aspiring model kept progressing through the competition all the way to the finals.
She transitioned back in 2006 and has been diligently working to crack the modeling ranks in South Korea but keeps getting turned down for modeling jobs.
She's now appearing on the third season of Korea's Next Top Model and once again has the eyes of a nation and the international trans community on her.
Her appearance on KNTM3 has been met with mixed reviews from viewers and contestants, but show officials pointed out she is considered legally female in South Korea and it would be a human rights violation if she is not allowed to do so.
So far she is five shows into the KNTM3 cycle and has been doing well so far. She finished third in one episode and in episode five won the reward challenge. Staying alive and avoiding elimination is the name of that the game on that show, and so far Choi Han-bit has managed to do so.
Here's hoping she not only makes the final of KNTM3, but wins it.
The 2012 FIBA Women's World Olympic Qualifying Tournament tipped off in Ankara, Turkey June 25 with our FIBA number 11 ranked Canadian neighbors being amongst the femme roundball teams trying to dribble their way into the London Olympic basketball tournament that starts a few weeks from now
Out of the 12 nations that started their quest for the five remaining spots to go to London only eight remain after they survived group play. The host nation Turkey won Group A and will play Group B runner up and FIBA number 12 ranked Argentina. Group B winner and FIBA number 4 ranked Czech Republic will play Group A runner up and FIBA number 15 ranked Japan.
Canada was in Group D with FIBA number 8 ranked France and Mali and got their tournament off to a rousing start June 25 by crushing Mali 89-23.
The next day against France they brought their bricklayers union cards and got off to a slow start that resulted in a 57-46 loss and a 1-1 record in Group D play.
Despite the loss they were still in great shape to qualify for the quarterfinals because of the blowout win over FIBA number 19 ranked Mali. The only way they would be knocked out of the tournament is if Mali upset France and beat them by a 65 point margin in doing so.
Umm no. France routed Mali 88-37 on June 27 to win the group with Canada finishing as the runner up. France will play Group C runner up and FIBA number 9 ranked Korea for one of the Olympic spots.
The Canadians will play Croatia, the group C winner that has jumped 23 spots in the FIBA rankings to number 31 with a spot in the Olympics going to the winner and the loser moving on to play June 30 the loser of the Turkey-Argentina game. The losers in the Czech Republic-Japan and France-Korea games would also battle it out on June 30 in the semis.
The winners of the June 30 semifinals would play July 1 for the final Olympic berth.
I would think the Canadian women's b-ballers would rather handle their business today and be celebrating on Canada Day a trip to London rather than playing a nerve racking two additional must win games tomorrow and on Canada Day to get the final Olympic berth.
"The International Olympic Committee has the honor of announcing that
the 23rd Olympic Winter Games in 2018 are awarded to the city of
Pyeongchang."
With those words spoken by IOC president Jacques Rogge after opening a sealed envelope, cheers erupted amongst the Korean IOC delegates in the conference hall
The third time was the charm in its quest to bring the Winter Games to Korea. PyeyongChang was considered the favorite going into the IOC meeting in Durban, South Africa to determine who would be the host city for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
The city beat out its competitors Munich, Germany and Annecy, France for the honor on the first ballot, something that hasn't happened since Salt Lake City won the right to host the 2002 games on the first ballot in 1995. PyeyongChang received 65 votes, easily surpassing the 48 votes majority required out of the 95 eligible IOC delegates to win.
Munich, Germany, which was trying to become the first city to host both the winter an the summer Games was second with 25 votes and Annecy, France received only 7 votes.
The national delegations bidding for the Games aren't allowed to vote, and had PyeyongChang not gotten a t majority, Annecy would have been eliminated as the city with the lowest number of votes (as Chicago painfully remembers) and another round of voting would have occurred until a candidate city received a majority. .
PyeongChang was a frustrated bridesmaid to Vancouver and Sochi in its previous bids for the 2010 and 2014 Games. It lost by three votes to Vancouver for the 2010 Games despite handily
winning the first round of voting and by four votes to Sochi for right to host the 2014
Games.
PyeyongChang's changes were looking good because the 2014 Games are being held in Europe, there were two European finalists and the IOC is loath to put them on the same continent in back to back Olympiads. The IOC is also wanting to put the winter and summer games in terriitories where they haven't been before, and both times the Winter Games came to Asia in 1972 an 1998, Japan has hosted them in sapporo and Nagano
Today was PyeyongChang's day, and after their mayor receives the Antwerp Flag at the closing ceremonies in Sochi, they and all of Korea will be looking forward to February 9-25, 2018, the dates for the 23rd Olympic Winter Games.
And for the cities that lost, there's always the 2022 games. The IOC makes the decison who gets them in 2015.
I remember when a young Korean transwoman named Harisu burst onto the scene in 2001 by doing a commercial for a local cosmetic brand called Dodo.
She not only turned heads because of her striking beauty, over the decade she would become a sought after model and K-pop star, trans rights advocate, eventually get married in 2007, and open a trans themed nightclub. She would also become a role model for young transwomen in Korea.
Ten years after that groundbreaking debut, the SBS network is broadcasting a documentary entitled 'Harisu: Ten Years Of Her Dream'. It will focus on what has been transpiring in Harisu's life since she became an iconic part of her homeland.
I'll just have to wait until somebody uploads it to YouTube to see it.
Those of us with longer memories would probably dispute that title by pointing out Harisu was the first Korean transwoman to garner international attention.. But 23 year old Choi Han Bit has done something that even trailblazing transwoman Harisu hasn't.
In Korea there is a television show called Open Hall in which beautiful women compete for a chance to become a supermodel. Out of the 1,200 applicants they received for this show, Choi Han Bit was one of the 160 initial contestants selected.
Over the 20 days of competition Choi has continued to impress and advance. She got through the first preliminary round which whittled those 160 contestants down to 50, and then made it through the July 28 second round which cut the remaining ladies down to 32 competitors.
Making the September 25 finals virtually guarantees her 'supermodel status' regardless of whether or not she actually wins
During her speech, according to AllKpop she had lots to say and many people to thank, including her parents.
"Looking back, the situation I'm in would have seemed impossible to me as a child. I'm just so happy to be here right now and I want to become a dignified supermodel as well as a great role model. I would like to thank my parents for actively supporting me through the surgery and the pursuit of my dreams."
When asked if she would like to be a celebrity, she said that she did not want to use her transgender status to become a celebrity, but would rather become a celebrity through her hard work and passion.
At the conclusion of her speech, Choi said, "I would like to send a message to any other transgenders. Be dignified and proud of who you are."
Amen sis. Your transsisters around the world are definitely proud of you.
I'll have to do some searching to find out if she ultimately won the contest. Here's hoping she did.
When it comes to Asia and the Pacific islands, there is a wide variance in terms of the populace's acceptance level for transgender people.
One of the countries that has made gigantic leaps in terms of acceptance of transgender people is South Korea. Much of the improved perception of transgender people there has been driven by transwoman Lee Kyung-eun, who is better known to Koreans and the rest of the world by her stage name of Harisu.
Harisu was born in 1975, transitioned in her teens, had SRS, then started garnering international attention in 2001 when she appeared in a wildly successful advertising campaign for Dodo Cosmetics.
The multitalented Harisu has authored four books, modeled, acted in movies and television shows, appeared in print and television commercials and recorded several K-pop albums.
On November 29, 2003 she petitioned a Korean district court in Incheon to change her name and gender on her family registry. The petition was granted and on December 13, 2002 she became only the second person in South Korea to legally change their gender. On May 13, 2007 after dating him for two years she married her boyfriend Micky Jung.
Harisu was cognizant of her role as South Korea's first open transgender celebrity and was adamant about always setting a good example. Her successful transition opened the door for other Korean transwomen to walk in her pumps.
A K-pop group called Lady appeared on the scene which tried to capitalize on Harisu's popularity in Korea. After a nationwide talent search, three transwomen were chosen to form the group and a fourth was added later. However, the band received a lukewarm reception and officially disbanded in 2007.
In addition to Harisu being credited for helping to change attitudes about transgender people, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea has been pushing to protect transgender people in Korea as well.
South Korean transpeople are now eligible to serve in the country's military forces and rewrote its military medical examination procedures in order for them to do so.
But the biggest milestones for Korean transsexuals have been in their court system. In June 2006 the Korean Supreme Court ruled that transsexuals who have sex change operations should be able to legally change their gender.
Justice Kim commenting on their decision, said that their decision “is the best choice to alleviate the suffering of transsexual people at a time when any tangible legislative measures to protect their rights is most likely a long time coming.”
And to illustrate just how far Korea has come on transgender issues, a Korean court recently sentenced a man to four years in jail plus community service for raping a transwoman. It's a landmark case there because in 1996 the Korean judiciary rejected a similar case involving the rape of a transwoman.
So once again you have an Asian nation running rings around the self proclaimed leading democracy in the world when it comes to granting basic human rights to transgender people. When are we in the States going to catch up to the rest of the world who long ago recognized that we are human beings?
She transitioned back in 2006 and has been diligently working to crack the modeling ranks in South Korea but keeps getting turned down for modeling jobs. 
