The show must go on. Despite the disasterous flooding sweeping Thailand, the Miss International Queen Pageant, an international beauty pageant for transgendered women was held this week in Pattaya. Pageant participants managed to share the goodwill of the event by 270,000 baht for flood victims through a charity auction, and visiting flood evacuation centers.
The pageant winner, Thailand’s Sirapassorn Athayakorn, told the press that she came from an extremely supportive family, who had accepted her sexual identity at the age of six; her words contrasted sharply with the stories of lifelongviolence, prejudice, and abandonment relayed by pageant contestants from other countries. Thailand’s cultural acceptance of transgendered individuals are arguably the most advanced in the world, but Thai transvestites battle their share of discrimination. Thailand does not allow transgendered women to marry, as the act falls under the category of gay marriage, which is also outlawed in Thailand.
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