Is The Desire For White Skin In Thailand Negatively Impacting African Diaspora Transwomen's Chances To Win The MIQ Title?

I wrote about the controversial conclusion of the 2011 edition of the Thailand based Miss International Queen Pageant and wondered aloud about the interesting factoid that no transwoman from the African Diaspora has ever won this event in its history.

Could it be because white skin is considered desirable and beautiful in the Land Of Smiles and other countries in the Asia-Pacific rim and those prejudices for white skin are impacting the chances of darker skin beauties to win an international trans pageant with all Thai judges?  

Skin bleaching and lightening creams are not just an issue in the Caribbean, African nations and the rest of the African Diaspora, they are also an issue in the Asia-Pacific rim as well.    A survey done by marketing company Synovate discovered that 4 out of 10 women in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan use a skin lightening cream.  

There is also region wide stigma, racism and negativity attached to having dark skin as well.   In Thailand as in other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the stigma of darker skin is rooted in language.   It's not surprising as a child of the Diaspora to learn that a common Thai insult aimed at someone of lower social standing is "tua dam," or black body.  Along the same lines are "e dam" (black girl) or "dam tap pet" (black like a duck's liver). 

When you have reports of Thai women who in pursuit of that desirable white skin are disfigured because of black market skin lightening products that promise to deliver but ruin skin but lives in the process, it leads you to ponder the possibility that the distaste for darker skin is infecting the all Thai judging panels and negatively impacting the African descended and other dark skin beauties who enter the MIQ pageant.

I'd submit that the troubling pattern of no African Diaspora contestant ever winning the Miss International Queen pageant over its existence is evidence to suggest that it is probably happening.

It's also why I'm not letting this issue go in continuing to call for an international panel of judges for the 2012 and future Miss International Queen pageants.   As the Miss Universe and Miss World ciswomen pageant organizers already know, what you Thais consider beautiful for a woman doesn't have the same currency in the Middle East, the Caribbean, South America, Europe or North America. 

It's past time for the Miss International Queen judging panels, if they are going to continue to claim they are a premier international transgender pageant, to expand their beauty mindset to reflect that just as those cis pageant systems do.

It's not a surprise because of an internationally diverse judging panel, this year's Miss Universe is a statuesque woman from Angola.

It will be interesting to observe what transpires over the next year for the Miss International Queen pageant. Will they continue business as usual in the face of strong rumors that a Manila based international trans pageant may be about to kick off next year and risk getting eclipsed or will they evolve already and institute those international judging pageant that will give African Diaspora and dark skin beauties from other nations a fair chance to win?      

Federal Judges Mess With Texas GOP's Discriminatory Redistricting Maps

Because of a sorry history of discriminatory election practices aimed at POC's, Texas is one of the 1965 Voting Rights Act states that must submit any changes in voting practices to be "precleared" by either the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division or the D.C. District Court before those changes can take effect.

Translation: no redistricting maps exist or voting policy changes are legit until either the DOJ or US District Court signs off on them. 

It's why Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) elected to bypass a Justice Department review they perceived as unfriendly and attempted to push their jacked up GOP map into DC District Court presuming he'd get a friendlier hearing than trying to clear it through the Obama Administration's DOJ Civil Rights Division. 

Yesterday that gambit blew up in AG Abbott's face.  A three judge panel agreed with the Justice Department that the GOP dominated Texas Legislature used an improper standard for measuring minority voting strength and refused to clear the maps.  

The panel was made up of two judges appointed by former President GW Bush and one by President Obama and stated Texas "used an improper standard or methodology to determine which districts afford minority voters the ability to elect their preferred candidates of choice."

The stakes are high in this political battle because the Democrats only need to pick up 25 seats across the country to flip control of the House back into their hands next year.  Texas started this redistricting cycle with 32 congressional seats but thanks to the explosive growth of Latinos and the Hurricane Katrina evacuees from Louisiana that stayed in Houston and Dallas we picked up four additional congressional districts..

"Today's ruling supports what leaders of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus have been saying for months — the Republican Leadership discriminated against minorities by seeking to grow their political influence in the halls of Congress and the Texas House while ignoring the demographic reality of those responsible for our state's population growth," said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D), chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, which argued against the maps.

The Republicans thanks to the 2003 Delaymandered maps have a 23-9 edge and were seeking to pick up at least three of the four new seats when they drew the 2012 congressional map despite minority communities being responsible for the population growth that enable Texas to pick up the additional seats in the first place.    

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) attempted to argue that the GOP drawn congressional map increased the opportunity districts for minorities from 8 to 10.  The US argued that it was already at 10 

The three judge panel also rejected the GOP proposed map for the 150 member Texas House in which the Justice Department argued that minority districts are reduced from 50 to 45. The state of Texas asserted that the number of minority districts would increase from 41 to 42.  

And to hit the redistricting rejection trifecta, the court also rejected the proposed GOP map for the Texas Senate.

This clears the way for what will be a lengthy federal trial that will take place in Washington DC on the question of determining if the Texas redistricting plan reduces opportunity for minority representation (well, duh).

Because the GOP map is being contested, another federal three judge panel based in San Antonio will get busy drafting interim district maps for at least the Texas House and congressional districts for the upcoming 2012 election.  

Those interim maps should not only be fairer to non-white Texans, but give us a chance to pick up at least three of the four new seats that our population growth over the last decade helped the Lone Star State earn.  

This attempted Texas GOP end run around the DOJ Civil Rights Division also demonstrates and reaffirms why the 1965 Voting Rights Act is a critical tool for the protection of the voting rights of minorities and why the conservafools hate it.

It also reaffirms why I'm going to be standing in line to vote for President Obama's reelection on November 6 next year and voting out every politician with an (R) behind their name.. .  .

Lt. Choi, Join The Club

DADT repeal activist and founder of the West Point GLBT group Knights Out Lt. Dan Choi was recently quoted in a Newsweek interview as saying he felt "so betrayed" by HRC.

I have great respect for her (Kathy Griffin) as an advocate. But if [the Human Rights Campaign] thinks that having a rally at Freedom Plaza with a comedienne is the right approach, I have to wonder. Don't Ask, Don't Tell is not a joking matter to me. To be at Freedom Plaza and not at the White House or Congress? Who are they trying to influence? I felt like they were just trying to speak to themselves. If that's the best the lobbying groups and HRC can do, then I don't know how these powerful groups are supposed to represent our community. Kathy Griffin and [HRC president] Joe Solmonese said they would march with me to the White House but didn't. I feel so betrayed by them.

Join the club, Lt. Choi.

I experienced the same disappointment and moment of epiphany about HRC in 1999. It led me to join other transpeople who had the same moment of clarity to found NTAC over a decade ago.

It also led me to the conclusion that African American transpeople need to do more for ourselves in terms of fighting for our rights since white run and led organizations could not be trusted to effectively advocate for us and our issues.

You have not only discovered how your trans brothers and sisters feel about the Human Rights Campaign, you've echoed some of the same concerns, complaints and comments LGBT people of color have articulated about HRC for over two decades.

And by failing to support you at your White House protest, HRC once again has reinforced the perception that people of color are only welcome in the GLBT movement to provide melanin for photo ops, not determine policy or set the agenda for the movement.

One thing we people of color know all too well as Frederick Douglass reminds us, power concedes nothing without a demand. If the people leading your movement are too busy sucking up to the same powers instead of confronting them on behalf of the powerless people you purport to represent, it leads to an ineffective movement.

It also manifests itself in leaders that are resistant to doing anything that may put their own comfortable position at risk or engage in "tough minded" confrontational strategies that anger the defenders of the status quo they so desperately want to be a part of.

Lt. Choi, thank you for speaking your mind. You have now joined the expanding ranks of people across this nation who are seriously questioning the fitness of HRC to lead the GLBT community toward achieving the goals of full societal equality and fairness for our people.


Crossposted from The Bilerico Project

Gemini Mini Documentary

TransGriot Note: Mini Documentary on Chicago drag queen Saya Naomi Diaz Deleon or Gemini. It includes commentary from Christina Kahrl, who was recently featured on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.

Blog Talk Radio Show With Renee This Saturday

Renee at Womanist Musings was so inspired by Tami's of What Tami Said radio show, she decided to start her own Blog Talk Radio broadcast

She'll be doing it every two weeks, and I'm honored to have been asked to be part of the panel for her first show along with Frau Sally Benz of Jump Off The Bridge and Brownfemipower of Flip Flopping Joy.

The topic will be the silencing of women of color in feminist spaces, and the fun will kick off at 4 PM EDT on Saturday. There will be a line where you can call in questions or comments at (347) 326-9452 , and if you miss it, the show will be posted for listening to later at your leisure.

So please check out the stimulating and thought provoking conversation that's going to take place Saturday.

And naw, I haven't forgotten about the cornbread recipe I owe you.