2010 Miss International Queen Pageant Gets Underway

The 2010 edition of the world's most well known trans beauty pageant gets underway this week in Pattaya, Thailand  with 25 transwomen from around the world competing for the chance to be crowned the successor to 2009 queen Ai Haruna of Japan.

The finals will be televised live on Thai television Friday night Thai time (Thursday our time)  and over the years have garnered international new coverage.

The Thais take their pageants seriously, and this one gets treated with the same level of respect they do with any cis pageant.   Winner gets $10,000 USD and a nice prize package.

While we're waiting for this week's Miss International Queen contest to play out, here's some YouTube video from last year's pageant and the announcement of the 2009  ten finalists.

2010-11 Miss Continental Winner Is....

Last year Mokha Montrese finished as the first runner up to 2009-10 queen Armani, who finally achieved her personal goal of seizing the crown at the 30th annual Miss Continental Pageantin Chicago.

What a difference a year makes at the recently conducted 31st annual edition of the Miss Continental Pageant.

Outgoing queen Armani spent Labor Day 2010 at the Park West Theater passing the Miss Continental crown to her successor, Mokha Montrese, the person she beat to gain the previous year's title. She is the Miss Continental pageant queen for 2010-11.

Mokha Montrese's story is a mirror image of Armani's Miss Continental history in terns of finally getting to wear the crown she's relentlessly pursued after all these years. She's another longtime Miss Continental contestant who has come agonizingly close in various years to winning the title.



The Miss Continental pageant is contested every Labor Day weekend in Chitown, so if you're interested in attending the 2011-12 version, better be ready to shell out the dough when the tickets go on sale because they don't last long.

Bu congrats to Mokha, and may you enjoy your reign you've worked long and hard to achieve.

2010-11 Miss Continental Pageant This Weekend

It's Labor Day weekend, and one tradition that has happened in Chicago since 1980 is the Miss Continental Pageant.

It's the nationally respected and premier trans pageant for professional female illusionists and takes place at Chicago's Park West Theater.

Last year's winner Armani Stevens will be passing on her crown to her successor, and the road to the 200-11 crown will start with the preliminaries on Sunday, September 5.

The preliminary field will be whittled down to the 12 ladies who will compete for the crown on Labor Day evening.

One former Miss Continental who went on to mainstream success is 2001 winner Candis Cayne. She later became the first transwoman to appear in a recurring prime time role as a transwoman when she joined the cast of the short lived ABC series Dirty Sexy Money as Carmelita Ranier.

If you're in the Chicago area and are interested in checking out the event, you can check and see if they still have reserved tickets for sale by calling 312-527-9338.

Search Begins For 2010 Amazing Philippine Beauties Queen

Since the inaugural event in 2003 the Amazing Philippine Beauties Pageant has rapidly built itself up into one of the world's well known trans pageants in less than ten years. Not surprising since the Philippines like Thailand has always loved beauty pageants.

The search for the successor to 2009 queen Bem Bem May Rozado began August 3 with the initial call for contestants. That group will be whittled down to the 26 finalists who will compete at the Manila Film Center for the pageant finals.

As always, I'll be keeping y'all posted and let you know when the 2010 queen has been crowned and who she is.

In the meantime enjoy the promo video for the 2010 pageant.

2010 Miss Tiffany's Universe Winner Crowned

Something else that transpired while I was in the process of moving to H-town was the 13th annual Miss Tiffany's Universe pageant in the resort city of Pattaya, Thailand, 150 km (90 miles) away from the chaotic political situation in Bangkok.

This year's winner of the nationally televised pageant was 19 year old university student Nalada Thamthanakorn. She walks away with the 100,000 baht ($3,100) cash prize and a Honda Jazz car.

The Miss Tiffany's Universe Pageant is the Thai transwomen only one that determines who represents the 'Land of Smiles' for the open to all international transwomen Miss International Queen Pageant later this year.

Assuming the political drama wracking the capital doesn't spread to the rest of the country, it's scheduled to be held at Tiffany's Cabaret Theater.

This year's competition theme was, 'I am what I am', which is applicable to transpeople around the globe. The hundreds of applicants were whittled down to the 28 lucky ladies that took part in the televised portion of the contest.

In addition to being the most prominent transgender pageant in the world, Miss Tiffany's Universe continues to get more educated girls competing every year.

Out of the 28 contestants, 75 percent of them were students pursuing bachelor's degrees in Thailand's prominent universities such as Mahidol University, Bangkok University and Khonkaen University. Their majors or professions varied from safety trainer for firefighting to film director.

If everything stays relatively calm in the Pattaya area, 2009 Miss International Queen winner Ai Haruna of Japan will be making another trip to Thailand to crown her successor.

The Thais are hoping that Nalada Thamthanakorn is the girl that will keep the title at home this year.

Miss America 2010 Is A Sistah

I was flipping through my 800 plus cable channels last night and happened to tune in just in time for the semifinalists to be whittled down to the young woman who will wear the Miss America crown for 2010.

For the first time since 2004, it will be an African American woman that will do so. It's deliciously ironic it happened on the night that America's Bigot, Rush Limbaugh was one of the judges this year.

One of the other judges for this year's Miss America pageant was Vivica A. Fox, who probably canceled out Rush's foolishness.

22 year old VCU communications major Caressa Cameron. representing Virginia, won the 88 year old pageant last night which is now contested in Las Vegas. Unlike Miss USA, there's a talent portion, and she sang 'Listen' from the movie Dreamgirls..

In case you're wondering, there have been seven African-American women who have become Miss America in the 88 year history of the pageant. African-American women didn't start entering the pageant until 1970, and Vanessa Williams broke through to become the first African descended Miss America winner in 1984. Suzette Charles, the first runner up that year finished out Williams' reign after she resigned due to fallout from a nude photo scandal.

The other African American winners were Dr. Debbye Turner 1990, Marjorie Vincent 1991, Kimberly Aiken 1994, Erika Harold 2003 and Ericka Dunlap in 2004.

Congratulations to Caressa and may she have a quiet and drama free reign as Miss America 2010.

First Trans Beauty Pageant Hosted In India

There have been some recent groundbreaking events taking place for the GLBT community in India that have broken down cultural barriers.

In July the Delhi High Court decriminalized gay sex between consenting adults by declaring a colonial-era ban on homosexuality unconstitutional.

In November eunuchs won the right in a long standing campaign to be listed as 'others', distinct from males and females, on electoral rolls and voter identity cards.

In the wake of the changes in Indian society, the Indian Community Welfare Organization (ICWO), organized and hosted the first annual pageant for Indian transwomen on December 19.

The ICWO is the local organizations that works for the rights of TBLG people in Chennai and drew 120 contestants across India aged 20 to 35 to the city

Besides tiaras for the winners of the 'Miss India' title, crowns were also handed out to victorious contestants in other categories such as "Miss Beautiful Hair," "Miss Beautiful Eyes" and "Miss Beautiful Skin".

So why a pageant? ICWO Founding Secretary A.J. Hariharan told AFP, "We had a meeting of the transgender community some months ago where we discussed various events to bring community members into society,"

After rejecting several proposals including sporting events, "everyone unanimously supported the idea of a national-level beauty pageant," he said.

"We thought it would create an opportunity for the transgender community to showcase their skills, create a platform to address the problems they face - discrimination, marginalization and misconception."

The winner was Karina Shaline, a 25-year-old model from Mumbai. Romi, a 23 year old beautician from the northeastern state of Manipur, was second with local favorite and dance instructor Padmini, 25, grabbing third place.

2009 Miss International Queen Asks For Tolerance In Japan

Japanese TV personality Ai Haruna held a press conference in Tokyo December 3 in which she stated the desire for Japan to be more tolerant toward transpeople and others of diverse sexual orientations.

The 37 year old beauty was already a household name in Japan before she was crowned Miss International Queen 2009 last month in Pattaya, Thailand.

"I was surprised to see many transgender people work at hotels and restaurants with no problem in Thailand," she said.

"Japan can learn many things from other Asian nations like Thailand and the Philippines."

In Japan, people can legally change their gender on official documents but transgender people still face spoken and silent discrimination, Haruna said.

She recalled condominium owners had declined to let her rent apartments because neighbors may object.

"I was rejected five straight times," she said.

"I think Japan is behind."

Haruna said she had lived with difficulties since when she was a child.

"I was born with a very masculine sounding boy's name. But I always wanted to be a girl, always dreamed of becoming a pretty idol seen on TV."

"But for a long time life was very difficult for me," she said in a quivering voice.

"Even after I had a sex change operation at the age of 19 and had my first boyfriend, I encountered many, many obstacles that constantly made me realize I wasn't a woman."

Haruna said that she wanted to work internationally to raise awareness for sexual minorities. "I want to work for those who are troubled like me."

"I want to work in the world. And of course, I want to be married some day."

And may you be successful not only in raising awareness about transgender issues during your reign, but in your homeland as well.

Drama At The Miss Brazil Gay 2009 Pageant

One of the many reasons I love GLBT pageants is that some of the contestants will be drop dead gorgeous, the talent numbers make the cis pageants look tame by comparison, and every now and then you get some serious sore loser drama.

At this year's Miss Brazil Gay 2009 pageant, winner Ava Simoes had her wig and tiara snatched off her head by Miss Sao Paulo while doing a television interview.



I guess Miss Sao Paulo was really pissed about losing.

Talk about embarrassing for the reigning queen. But that's why you obey the first commandment of pageantry: Thou shalt secure thy wig so it won't come off.

Ai Haruna Wins 2009 Miss International Queen

The 5th Annual Miss International Queen pageant came to a successful conclusion Halloween night after a one year hiatus due to last year's Thai political crisis.

The title however, will be leaving the Land of Smiles.

Japan's Ai Haruna beat out 24 contestants from several nations competing for the coveted 2009 Miss International Queen title. The host Thais had to settle for homegirl Kangsadal Wongdusadeekul being the first runner up. Brazil's Daniela Marques was second runner up.

The 37 year old Haruna is a television personality in her homeland and also captured the Angel of Talent competition contested on October 28. Another Japanese contestant, Beni Tukishima took second place while Thai homegirl Sorawee Nattee grabbed the third place spot in the pre-pageant talent competition.

Transwomen from twelve nations and Puerto Rico took part in this year's pageant which not only garners international attention, but is treated by the Thai with the respect and seriousness they give a pageant involving ciswomen.



Congratulations to Ai Haruna, Miss International Queen 2009

The 2009 Amazing Philippines Beauty Winner Is....

Bem Bem May Razada!




The 5th annual Miss International Queen pageant is currently being contested at Tiffany's in Pattaya, Thailand as I write this with 24 contestants from around the globe vying for that increasingly prestigious crown in the trans pageant world.

But the other trans pageant that garners international attention, Amazing Philippine Beauties held its finals in Manila on October 23.







There are transgender pageants like the Queen Of Cebu one PinayTG mentioned on her blog across the Philippines. Miss Amazing Philippines in six years has become the most coveted title of them all.

It not only carries a large cash prize to the winner but a contract to work in the Amazing Philippines Show, a cabaret show similar to the trans ones done in Thailand.

Congratulations to the new Amazing Philippines Queen for 2009 and may she have an enjoyable reign.

The Miss International Queen Pageant Is Back!

After a year's absence due to political turmoil in Thailand, the 2009 edition of the Miss International Queen transgender pageant will finally take place.

The pageant has garnered international media attention in its short existence and was missed by contestants and pageant fans alike.

The cool thing about this pageant and the Miss Tiffany's Universe one, which is reserved for Thai transwomen only, is that the winners of these pageants are treated with the same respect and attention as the ciswomen who represent Thailand in the Miss Universe and Miss World competitions.

There was a kick off press conference held October 2 in Bangkok for this 5th anniversary edition of Miss International Queen, which has become a prestigious title in the trans pageant world. The winner receives $10,000 USD plus prizes, and Tiffany's management reported they received 68 applications around the world from potential contestants interested in competing in this year's edition of Miss International Queen.

It was whittled down to the 25 contestants from 15 countries who will journey to Pattaya and Tiffany's Show Theatre October 26–31 to battle for the crown

Nepali Transwoman Eager For Miss International Queen Challenge

Sudeshna Sarkar of Thaindian News wrote an interesting article about one of the 25 people who will be competing in the 2009 edition of the Miss International Queen pageant.

21 year old Sandhya Lama, is the reigning Miss Gay Nepal and is eager to walk the stage at the most prestigious transgender pageant in the world.

“I am excited,” said Sandhya, who not only is the reigning Miss Gay Nepal, she beat 54 contestants last year to win the Miss Beauty and Brain 2008 pageant title. The pageant was organized by the Blue Diamond Society, Nepal’s pioneering gay rights organization,

“I look forward to telling the world about the leaps made by the gay rights movement in Nepal. The Supreme Court has recognized us as citizens who should have the rights enjoyed by other citizens. It has also approved of same-sex marriages.

“Moreover, when a new constitution, written by the people themselves, is promulgated in May 2010, it will also include recommendations given by us.”

Sandhya's day job is working as a counselor for the Blue Diamond Society. She counsels her peers about the perils of intravenous drug use and advocating measures to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in addition to fulfilling her official duties as Miss Gay Nepal.

Looking forward to seeing if she can add the Miss International Queen title to her increasing list of pageant wins.

Vietnam's Miss Angel Pageant -A Vehicle For Change

Like most places in Asia and the Pacific Rim, Vietnam is crazy about beauty pageants.

Since being trans is a worldwide thing and there are transpeople in Vietnam, and some of those transpeople like competing in pageants as well, that means there are popular ones reserved for transpeople and gay men who are female illusionists.

Pham Thu Nga reported on the GLBT pageant phenomenon in Vietnam, and one of the increasingly popular ones is the Miss Angel pageant.

This pageant is getting an increased profile and cachet in Vietnam in just four years despite the fact that it hasn't been approved by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Department of Performing Arts.

That organization has to approve all live events in Vietnam.

Lam Thi wanted nothing more than to walk the stage at a glamorous beauty contest, but Vietnamese regulations prohibit transwomen from participating in beauty contests with ciswomen. That unfortunately limits her competition options.

So when she heard about Miss Angel. she did everything she could to compete in the 4th annual edition of this pageant and was determined to win it.

But it was more than self-interest that inspired her, she also wanted to bring greater acceptance to the Vietnamese GLBT community.

“Through such contests, I hope society will learn to keep an open mind about gays,” she said.

GLBT pageants are attracting scores of contestants like Lam Thi who say they just want to be considered normal. Though prize winnings are usually low, around US$100-300, most pageant hopefuls spend an average of $600 getting prepared for the events, according to Minh Quan, director of Miss Angel.

Miss Angel was first held in 2005 by The Gioi Thu Ba (The Third World) Ltd. and gay club Bau Troi Xanh (Blue Sky). Contestants, aged 16-24, compete in three rounds that cover evening gown, question and answer about current events and one in which they must demonstrate their knowledge about HIV/AIDS and safe sex, since the pageant's mission is to promote HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.

The Miss Angel judges panel consists of make-up artists, psychologists and members of the Ho Chi Minh City’s AIDS Prevention Committee.

Minh Quan, 29-year-old director of The Gioi Thu Ba Ltd. and moderator of thegioithu3. com, which boasts the largest number of members of all gay-themed websites in Vietnam, said he held Vietnam’s first gay beauty contest at a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City “just for fun.”

Quan, who has come out publicly about his homosexuality, said a group of about 20 gay men competed in the first competition.

But as support grew through his website, which had 8,000 members by 2006, he decided to organize larger, more highly-publicized competitions.

“Later contests drew a lot of media attention with headlines like ‘Homosexuals vie for beauty queen title,’” Quan said.

“We received a lot of support from the public in the beginning. Many thought it was just a normal event. But, of course, there was strong opposition as well.”

This year’s Miss Angel pageant was held in June and attracted hundreds of contestants from Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces.

But it was 20-year-old Thi’s dream that came true at the 4th Miss Angel pageant.

In an interview with Thanh Nien after being crowned the queen of the contest, the native of the southwestern Tay Ninh province said she'd had breast augmentation surgery and would undergo more complicated sex-related surgery in the near future.

Like beauty queens in any other pageant, the 4th Miss Angel said she would use her position to carry out charity work.

“I will launch an awareness campaign calling on homosexuals to have safe sex to prevent AIDS.”

Minh Quan is now also training contestants for the next Miss Angel Contest as well as the Prince Style for lesbians and drag kings. Quan said his biggest wish was that gay pageants would one day be officially licensed so they can expand and attract larger sponsorships.

Quan added that he wanted to organize a contest for transsexuals next year and said that he longed for the day that the gay community would have the full acceptance of the rest of Vietnamese society.

That's a wish GLBT people all over the world fervently hope will come true as well.

Miss Continental 2010 Is....

The Miss Continental Pageant is held every Labor Day weekend in Chicago and is one of the premier transgender pageants in the United States.

Y'all know I love watching pageants, but with all the stuff going on in my own life and breaking news last month I just realized I didn't do my annual post to tell you loyal TransGriot readers who won.

Well, 33 contestants hit the stage at the Park West Theater for the 30th annual edition of the Miss Continental pageant wondering if 2008-2009 queen Tulsi would be crowning them as her successor.

It's serious business, peeps. This pageant is not only the most coveted title in the trans pageant world, it comes with a $7,000 cash prize and 35 guaranteed performance bookings.

As usual, it was a hard fought couple of nights and the judges, which included my Houston homegirl and 1999 Miss Continental queen Tommie Ross had a tough task in selecting this year's winner.

But after the talent, evening gown and Q and A was done and the judges scores were tabulated, we finally arrived at the moment the Miss Continental Pageant world, all the peeps who participate in the pageant world and interested parties were waiting for--who would be the new Miss Continental queen for 2009-2010?

The envelope please.

The winner is...Armani Stevens!



The Florida based Armani has been trying for a decade to win this coveted crown. Armani was fourth runner up in 1998 and was an agonizingly close second runner up in 2002.



She finally got it with a talent number echoing the late Michael Jackson.




Her win is a testament to having the determination and persistence to achieve a goal.

I've been observing the pageant since the late 90's, and I can only imagine how frustrating at times it's been for her.

I'm happy that she's finally achieved that personal Holy Grail and is now Miss Continental 2009-2010.

Congratulations Armani. It's been a long time coming, and may your reign be a personally satisfying and successful one as well.

2009 Amazing Philippine Beauties Promo Video

One of the transgender beauty pageants that has quickly garnered international attention in just six short years is about to crank up its 2009 edition.

The Amazing Philippine Beauties Pageant has lived up to its name in terms of the amazing way it has grown and captured the imagination and attention of the world.



It has grown from an event just looking for beautiful transpinays for its Amazing Philippines Cabaret Show to an international media attention grabbing pageant in its own right.

It's going to interesting to find out what lucky transpinay gets crowned by 2008 queen Angelika Santillan as her successor.

Contestant No. 2

You know I love pageants and have documented on TransGriot the various transgender ones around the world that happen.

We've had some fierce debates about the relevance of them and will have them again. I still line up on the side of people who see pageants as a stepping stone to a better life or for who winning them is their dream.

So with that being said, I was intrigued by an episode of PBS Wide Angle documentary series called 'Contestant No 2' which began running on PBS July 29.

It documents the story of Duah Feres, a young Arab-Israeli Druze woman who dreams of a life beyond her Galilee village. Her decision to enter the Miss Israel pageant triggers a chain of events that impact Duah, her family and her village.

It also leads us to ask the question how far can an idealistic youth trying to live her life and achieve her dreams go to challenge the conservative mores and attitudes of her people? How far will the older generation go to enforce their will and their values on her?

It was a fascinating documentary to watch. You feel for Duah, who literally put her life on the line to do it. It was filmed in 2006, so I'm wondering what Duah's life is like now.

But I don't want to spoil the Wide Angle episode for you, so I'll let y'all watch it for yourselves and comment below.

The 2009 Miss Tiffany Universe Winner Is...

Sorawee Nattee

She takes home the grand prizes and cash from what has become the most prestigious transgender beauty pageant on the planet. The Thais take their beauty pageants seriously, and the 12th annual Miss Tiffany Universe was broadcast live on Thai television.

She also won another 20,000 baht for winning the Best Costume category.

She will now along with last year's winner take on the world's best beauties (or at least the ones who will show up) in the Miss International Queen pageant later this year at the Tiffany's Cabaret Theater in Pattaya.


H/T Sunny at Happi Like A Hippo

Miss Tiffany Universe 2009 Update

This is Miss Tiffany's Universe pageant week in Pattaya. The competition has been pared down to the 30 Thai transwomen who will compete for the crown and the chance to represent Thailand when the Miss International Queen pageant is held later this year.

The finals will be televised on May 15 at 10:30 PM local time live on Thai television.



So while you're waiting for this year's winner to be announced, here's the 2008 finals and the crowning of Miss Tiffany Universe 2008.

2009 MissTiffany's Universe Pageant Coming Soon

Well peeps, it's that time again in Pattaya, Thailand.

The 2009 edition of the Miss Tiffany's Universe pageant will be held May 10-15. The 12th annual competition will be fierce when transwomen all over Thailand head to the Tiffany's Theater for the first round eliminations that will whittle the field down to the thirty girls that will compete over the next several days for the tiara.

The May 15 finals will be televised live on Thai TV.

As I've noted before, the Thais are serious about their beauty pageants, and the Miss Tiffany's Universe pageant is taken just as seriously as any other pageant in the Land of Smiles.

The winner gets a 100,000 baht cash prize, a Honda Jazz car, and prizes. She is also give the same national love and respect as the other Thai pageant winners in the major cisgender pageant circuits such as Miss Universe and Miss World.

The Miss Tiffany's Universe pageant also has in their mission statement some serious goals in terms of promoting human rights awareness and creating positive images for transwomen internationally. Some of the winners have gone on to bigger and better things in Thai society.

While people may debate whether a pageant is the right vehicle for that, one thing you can definitely count on is that neither pageant fails to get international news coverage.

The Miss Tiffany's Universe winner also represents Thailand in the Tiffany's Cabaret sponsored Miss International Queen pageant. The Miss Tiffany's Universe is for Thai transwomen only, while the Miss International Queen one is open to transwomen from around the world.

Last year politics intruded on the 2008 Miss International Queen pageant. It was canceled due to the Thai political drama that led to the international airport being shut down.

It not only put a severe crimp in the Thai tourist industry, it also kept 2008 winner Kangsadal Wongdusadeekul from competing against the rest of the world's transwomen. Because of last year's drama, Thailand will have two representatives in this year's Miss International Queen pageant.

With the new government in place, let's hope Thailand and its people get a long period of political stability.

It's also going to be interesting to see who emerges as the 2009 Miss Tiffany's Universe winner.