The world of trans pageantry is much more than glitz and glamour to the women who participate. For transgender pageant queens, the competition also represents advocacy, education, and sisterhood – crucial given the political turmoil likely in store for the trans community with the upcoming administration.
The Thailand-based Miss International Queen, the world’s largest transgender pageant, has been raising global trans rights awareness, raising money for the Royal Charity AIDS Foundation of Thailand, and bringing trans women together for more than 20 years. From Dec. 8-12, 25 trans women from across the country met in Las Vegas, NV to compete for the inaugural title of Miss International Queen USA. Among the competitors were three women from Georgia: pageant newbies Bella Bautista and Jasmine Basanes and long-time pageant girl Kimora Elizabeth.
The three local competitors and their 22 challengers for the crown took part in workshops and seminars spanning information on employment rights, legal protections for trans people, and nutrition and a community project benefitting Nevada Homeless Youth before taking the stage. Over three days, the contestants performed in a Talent and National Costume competition, showcased swimsuits and evening gowns, and participated in Q&A interviews.
“[While you’re onstage,] you literally feel like everyone’s looking at you, looking up to you, and the world is your oyster,” Basanes told Georgia Voice.
While it is a competition – Midori Monet from Seattle, WA, took home the title – the experience fostered by the organizers emphasized sisterhood over rivalry and fostered a space where the girls could, as Elizabeth put it, take their wigs off and be their true, authentic selves.
“It’s very important that we [as trans women] have a solid support system and we have people in our lives that not only understand us, but look like us,” she said. “It’s very beautiful when you live this trans experience, when you’re going through your trans journey, and you have sisters who you know that you genuinely can trust because only we understand what we go through on the day-to-day.”
The competition is not only an opportunity for trans women to foster connections with other women like them, but also to meet women from different backgrounds who use their platforms to advocate for a diversity of issues.
“Pageantry is a reason to use your voice and use your platform to speak up about something,” Bautista said. ”You have 25 people discussing various topics that relate to their background, to their story, to their struggles. For me personally, one of the things that I’m most concerned about is discriminatory policies in local county jails. Unfortunately, last year, in April, I faced false imprisonment at my local county jail where I was subjected to unusual and cruel punishment. This new administration could actually increase the immunities for these officers, so it would become harder for people to fight against cases like mine that are happening across the country to trans people, to people in general.”
President-elect Donald Trump, who will be re-inaugurated into office on Jan. 20, made his opposition to transgender rights central to his campaign, saying he would work to “get transgender insanity the hell out of our schools, and we will keep [trans women] out of women’s sports” at an October rally at Madison Square Garden.
In 2024, at least 32 transgender and gender-expansive people were murdered. Amid such political turmoil and danger, trans women find affirming spaces like pageants more important than ever.
“We’re all in this together, not just in the pageant, but the world,” Basanes said. “We survived Trump’s first presidency. We can do it again, but we can’t do it separately. We have to take care of each other.”
Follow them on Instagram:
Jasmine Basanes: @jazzy.gabrielle
Bella Bautista: @bellabxllaa
Kimora Elizabeth: @agentk_mua
Miss International Queen USA: @missinternationalqueenusa
