Miss Kentucky 2010 Comes Out

Back in 2010 Djuan Trent became the second African American woman after Lyda Lewis in 1973 to be crowned as Miss Kentucky.   She went on to place in the Top 15 during the 2011 Miss America pageant. |

Having lived in Louisville when that marriage ban stain on the Kentucky Constitution was enacted and approved by a misguided majority of voters in 2004, I was happy when federal Judge John G. Heyburn dropped the legal hammer February 12 and ordered the Bluegrass State to recognize legal out of state same gender marriages.

With the haters homophobic rhetoric running hot and heavy, Ms.Trent came out in a February 20 post at her 'Life in 27' blog.   She noted in that post:

Ideally, I would love to one day live in a society where coming out is no longer necessary because we don't make assumptions about one another's sexuality and homophobia is laid to rest. For now, that is more of an ideal than it is a reality. But if you want see that ideal become a reality and you have the courage to change history...if you want to earn some gold stars, then yes, come on out and make your presence known. People can't know that their best friend, brother, sister, co-worker, neighbor, news anchor, favorite singer, or local coffee shop barista is being oppressed and denied the rights in which their heterosexual counterparts are so happily welcomed partake, unless you open your mouth and say it.

Or the former Miss Kentucky 2010 titleholder

I wrote this comment on her coming out post 

Thank you, Djuan!

As one of your trans sisters who once lived in Kentucky (Louisville) from 2001-2010, I definitely applaud you for taking this one small step for you, but a giant leap for the Kentucky LGBT community.

You help emphatically drive home the point that LGBT people are just living their lives, following their dreams and wanting to do so without interference. 

As you pointed out, the more people we have coming out, speaking their truth and living their lives, the better. 

Since this post is about Ms Trent coming out, her words need to be the ones closing it out.  But I echo what my SGL sistah said.

I applaud those who take that step in speaking up and speaking out, because in your doing so, you create a sense of awareness amongst your friends, family, and peers, letting them know that this hits a lot closer to home than they may have realized.  You create a sense of community, letting others know that they are not alone, and giving them the courage to also speak up and speak out.

 

Brazil Miss Trans 2013 Pageant

The second annual Miss Trans 2013 pageant was held m Rio de Janeiro recently.   It had 28 competitors from 11 Brazilian states competing not only for the pageant crown at Rio's Joao Caetano Theater, but an all expense paid trip to Thailand as Brazil's representative for the 2014 edition of the Miss International Queen pageant

It was also offering a chance to go to Thailand and get a paid gender realignment surgery.

But this pageant also has a serious purpose in mind according to its sponsor Majorie Marchi, the president of Astra-Rio, the Rio Association for Transvestites and Transsexuals.    “The competition was an important demonstration for people who traditionally have no voice in society and are still seen as victims or as culprits on the police blotter,” said Marchi “The trans community doesn’t just want the right to food and sustenance. We are about music, entertainment and art.”

The pageant's goals are to increase the visibility of trans people in Brazil, and was also sponsored by the city government of Rio, fashion designer Almir França, a Brazilian plastic surgery clinic and the Kamol Cosmetic Hospital in Thailand.  


The winner of Miss Trans 2013 was 21 year old Raika Ferraz, who is from Sao Paulo and started her transition at 17.   She will represent Brazil at the next Miss International Queen contest in Pattaya next November..

And as for whether she will have the SRS that she won as part of the prize package for winning the title?

She says as of right now, no.  'I don’t need this operation, I already feel like a woman. I have been taking hormone tablets for more than four years now to create my curves and increase my bust size and I am really happy with the results," Ferraz says confidently.

A Brazilian girl like us, Marcela Ohio won the Miss International Queen 2013 title, and in the history of this pageant that started in 2004, no nation has ever had back to back winners of it.  

Will the Brazilians and Raika Ferraz be able to pull that feat off?    We'll see if she can in November.

Miss Universe 2013 Lets Her Transphobic Slip Show

It didn't take long for the newly crowned Miss Universe 2013 pageant queen to let her mouth get her embroiled in a little controversy.

Gabriela Isler revealed during a HuffPost Live interview that she believed transwomen shouldn't be allowed to compete in the Miss Universe pageant but should compete in their own pageants.

"They should have their own pageant, I think, and maybe they can realize in this pageant, Miss Universe, or the other pageants [were] made for women," she said. "They are... they have the opportunity, but I think that they have to compete with the same... the same team. Right?"

Ah, the old separate but unequal solution rears its head again.  It's also not surprising that as the former Miss Venezuela she comes from one of the few Miss Universe national pageant systems that still bars transwomen from competing. 

And Gabriela, in case you weren't aware of it, and obviously you aren't, trans women have had since the 80's pageants we can compete in.  The Miss International Queen one has been happening for nearly a decade along with national ones like Miss Amazing Philippine Beauties, Miss Tiffany Universe in Thailand and the recently started Miss T Brazil.

But those trans women specific pageants pale in comparison to the international prestige and prize money available to a pageant winner in the Miss Universe or Miss World pageant systems.

Her fellow trans Venezuelans who competed in Miss International Queen 2013, Chanel and Nohemi Montilla will probably cosign that last paragraph. 

And before you throw that surgery shade at trans women, some of you so-called 'natural born women' have had snip and tuck work done to enhance your chances of walking away with a pageant crown on more than a few occasions.  I also know trans women who have the Coke bottle curves not because of the surgeon's knife or pumping but simply because HRT was very good to them. 

And we know next to Brazil, Venezuela is the plastic surgery capital of the South American continent.

I guess The Donald didn't make Gabriela aware of the fact than in the wake of the Jenna Talackova situation in which she had to prep a lawsuit to be able to compete in last year's Miss Canada Universe pageant, as of January 1 the Miss Universe system that she now is the reigning queen of allows post operative trans women to compete. 

Olivia Culpo, the previous Miss Universe who you succeeded had the opposite opinion. 

As for transfeminine contestants during this 2013 Miss Universe pageant cycle, unfortunately made it through their national pageants to make the Miss Universe stage in Moscow this year.  Kylan Wentzel, the only trans woman the international trans community is aware of who attempted to do so didn't win Miss California, and even if she had, she would have had to win Miss USA to get there.  

There were rumors in other nations such as the Philippines that Miriam Jimenez was contemplating entering their national pageant but as the entry deadlines approached it didn't happen.

Does the fact that Talackova finished in the Top 12 of Canada's national pageant last year and was one of four women who won Miss Congeniality 'scurr' y'all in Pageant World that one day you will lose a pageant crown to a trans woman?

That day is coming as little trans girls mature into trans teens who will someday hit that 18-27 age range that makes them eligible to compete for and one day hopefully win Miss Universe.

And that day is coming sooner than you think.  

Miss International Queen 2013 Is...

Since we won't have any trans contestants competing at the Miss Universe pageant (that we're aware of) taking place in Moscow on November 9, my attention for the moment shifts to Pattaya, Thailand where 25 transfeminine contestants from 17 countries gathered for the Miss International Queen Pageant

The finals were held last night (November 1 Thai time) and this year's winner is Marcela Ohio, representing Brazil.  First runner up was Shantell D'Marco of the US and second runner up was Nethnapada Kanrayanon of Thailand (big surprise).

It's not only the first time a representative from South America has claimed the title, she is the second Latina to do so after the late Erica Andrews who represented Mexico in 2006.  Her win was only the third time since the pageant's start in 2004 and the first since Erica Andrews did so that someone not from the Asia-Pacific Rim nations has taken home the Miss International Queen crown. 



And yeah, it extended the Miss International Queen title drought for African descended trans women.