Pageant Talk : Miss International Queen..

Pageant Talk :  Miss International Queen...for Transgender. 

Miss International Queen® is the world's largest and most prestigious beauty pageant for transgender women from different parts of the world. It is held annually in Pattaya City, Thailand since 2004.

The mission of the pageant aims towards LGBTQ and Transgender awareness and equality in both society and workforce, while all the monetary profits of the actual televised show goes to the Royal Charity AIDS Foundation of Thailand.

The current Miss International Queen is Nguyen Huong Giang from Vietnam, who was crowned on 9 March 2018.  

The contestants must have been born male, can be pre or post-operation and between the age of 18 to 35. In addition, participants can only represent their country of birth or that listed in their passport and must not have previously joined any magazine publication/website/adult film/prostitution showcasing nudity. Previous winners or runner-up contestants are not allowed to join again. Repeat non-placement candidates are allowed to re-submit their credentials and application.

Only about 25 semi-final contestants chosen would go on to compete in the final round and are required to participate in 2 weeks activities: photo shoots, luncheons with city's officials, dinner with the press, visit sponsors and community outreach, similar conditions to competitors in the female beauty pageant. The final show will be aired on live broadcast Thailand's television as well as live online streaming.

Some of the pageant objectives are: creating transgender rights awareness among international communities, to build friendship, sportsmanship and exchange ideas between international LGBTQ communities.

Transgender Inclusion in Pageants

According to recent studies, transgender and transsexual individuals are often the victims of social and political discrimination. The Miss International Queen pageant offers contestants the opportunity to compete and showcase their talent and beauty in a LGBT friendly environment.

Transgender Pageant Cases

Recent events have drawn attention to the treatment of transgender pageant contestants and how their personal identification impacts their eligibility. There have been instances where transgender and transsexual pageant winners have lost their title for not being “transgender enough”.

On the other hand, certain participants have also been disqualified from cisgender female pageants for not being “naturally born female”. In 2012, Jenna Talackova who participated in Miss International Queen in 2010 was disqualified from the Miss Universe Canada on the basis of competing as a woman when she was originally born a male. 

Supporters of Talackova argues that there were no rules explicitly banning transsexuals from competing.Talackova joined in the 2010 Miss International Queen competition.This instance sparked a debate as to how Talackova’s personal gender identification affected her eligibility to compete in both competitions.Talackova argued that if she was transgender, she could participate in transgender pageants. At the same time, if she identified as a woman, she would have had the right to participate fairly in the Miss Universe Canada competition. Jenna Talackova’s case is one that brings awareness to the public perception and personal opinions pertaining to transgenders competing in pageants.

A similar case occurred later in 2016 when the winner of the Miss Transgender UK, Jai Dara Latto, was stripped of her title after pageant organizers claimed she was not living “full time” as a woman. This was after footage was uncovered of Latto walking around in boxers rather than female undergarments. Latto was pegged as a “drag queen” rather than a transgender woman and proceeded to forfeit her pageant title and earnings. Latto pledged to walk thirty miles in high heels in honor of transgender rights after the allegations.

Both Talackova and Latto’s cases raises the question as to who is eligible to win a cisgender pageant and also what qualifications or standards must be met in order for a transgender pageant winner to retain their title. Participants are eligible to compete and win the title of Miss International Queen if they were born male and their sexual or gender identification is that of a female. These recent events have sparked a debate involving the social inclusion and equality that is associated with an individual’s sexual and gender identification.