“The Miss Universe contest should be for natural-born women…Transgenders should not be allowed to join the Miss U because it’s only for real women.”

—

Filipino beauty queen Miriam Quiambao who was the first runner up in the 1999 Miss Universe

 

Beauty pageants are a part of the Filipino culture.

No other country in the world can boast holding as many beauty pageants as the Philippines where the contests attract tens of thousands fanatical fans who fete winners and runners up with motorcades and confetti.

Rooted in a philosophy that “To be beautiful is to be great,” these pageants, some held in poverty stricken barrios, without the glare of any media spotlight have become ordinary fare for every Filipino.

There seems to be a beauty pageant for everything. There is Miss Earth Philippines, Miss Fire, Miss Bikini, Miss Fresh Air, Miss Casino and big one, the Bb/ Pilipinas. Some are held for the very young like Little Miss Philippines, Little Miss Barangay and the like. 

So it’s no wonder that the controversy surrounding B.C’s transgender beauty Jenna Talackova has taken root in the Philippines, the land of the beauty pageants.

Talackova has become a worldwide sensation following her successful battle with the Miss Universe Organization over her ability to compete in the Miss Universe pageants.

Originally, Talackova had been disqualified because of a rule stating that contestants must be “naturally born” females, but after the story was publicized, pageant officials from Miss Universe announced a new policy was in the pipeline. The new policy allows all women, including transgender women, without any disparity, to compete in future competitions.

Talackova, 23, underwent her sex change operation when she was 19 and is identified on her Canadian passport as a woman. The East Vancouver beauty queen originally from Babine Lake in Northern B.C. was self-identified as a female at age 4, underwent hormone therapy as a teen and received gender-reassignment surgery at 19.

Debate has been raging in Manila on plans to allow transgenders to join the Miss Universe contest after Donald Trump, who owns the Miss Universe franchise, reinstated Talackova, as a contestant at Canada’s pageant, after she was disqualified over issues on her true gender. 

Talackova will now participate in the 61st annual Miss Universe Canada Pageant which will be held at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto alongside 65 delegates from across Canada from May 11th to May 20th 

The reigning Miss Universe Canada, Chelsae Durocher will assist in crowning her successor before a live audience.

Filipino beauty queen Miriam Quiambao, first runner up in the 1999 Miss Universe contest claimed that Trump’s decision was wrong. 

In a tweet, Quiambao, said, “In my humble opinion, the decision to include transgenders in the Miss Universe pageant sends the wrong message.”  

Citing her arguments, Quiambao said, “The Miss Universe [contest] should be for natural-born women… Transgenders should not be allowed to join the Miss U because it’s only for real women.” 

“Whatever happened to the ‘essence of a woman’?” Quiambao said in reference to a “true woman’s” capability to give birth as a test of being a woman. 

Cory Quirino, director of Miss World beauty pageant, a rival of Miss Universe, told Yahoo OMG that Trump’s decision “will probably discourage natural-born females to join the pageant”. 

Because of that decision “three-fourths of the candidates for Miss Universe (in the Philippines) will be transgenders… and naturally-born women will lose their chance to compete in Miss Universe,” Diance Necio, Ms Philippines-International in 2011, also told Yahoo OMG. 

This should make the organisers of Miss Universe pageant decide to put up a prestigious beauty contest for transgenders, argued Necio. 

Agreeing with her, Quirino said the existence of beautiful transgender females already “validates the putting up transgender beauty pageant (for them).” 

“(In that kind contest) I think she (Talackova) will be more comfortable in a place where she is truly accepted,” explained Quirino. 

Assessing Talackova’s campaign in Canada’s beauty contest, Quirino said it was “to challenge the established order and an effort for her to gain acceptance as a female in the natural-born female world.” 

Lorraine Schuck, chief executive officer of Carousel which handles Miss Earth pageant, another beauty contest, told Bulletin that Trump’s decision would not sit well with other beauty contests in the Philippines. 

“We have religions here that are really conservative. We’re talking about Muslims, Christians, Catholics. So I don’t think it (transgenders being allowed to join Miss Universe contest) will happen in the near future,” Schuck said. 

Natural-born women would feel bad if they are defeated by beautiful transgender women, she added. 

Meanwhile, Ron de Vera, an active blogger singled out Quiambao in criticising alleged bias against Talackova. 

In an open letter to Quiambao, De Vera accused Quiambao, in his blog, of judging transgender women as “fake women… (and) thereby relegating them to second class citizens”. 

Arguing that Talackova is a “natural woman,” De Vera said, “She was born with a brain that sexually differentiated into a female brain.” 

“ I believe you are the kind of person who would favor the brain as the seat of (sexual) identity instead of the genitals,” De Vera told Quiambao who raised up the issue of “the real essence of a woman” as a quintessential qualification for those who want to join beauty contests.