More than a crown

Winning The Miss International Queen 2013 crown was a significant milestone in Brazilian Marcelo Ohio’s mission: to bring an end to discrimination against transgenders.
The 18-year-old from Sao Paolo says that winning the title will spur her on in her efforts to raise greater awareness about the transgender community and champion equal rights for them.
“I want to put an end to the perception that transgenders are all criminals and prostitutes. We are not. We are normal people who deserve to enjoy the same rights as everyone else,” she says firmly.
Still looking slightly dazed from her win over the USA’s Shantell D’Marco and Thailand’s Nethnapada Kanrayanon who bagged the first and second runner-up places respectively, Ohio told reporters after the event held in Pattaya on Friday that she hoped her win would encourage the transgender community.
“This is my message to transgenders everywhere: don’t give up, believe in yourselves. Someday the world will understand,” she says.
Earlier during the question and answer session with the top three finalists, Ohio was asked, “If you could use one thing to bring change into the world, what would it be?”
To this she responded with the aid of a translator, “I would use love to make the world more beautiful,” drawing rousing applause from the audience.
Apart from her crown, placed on her head by last year’s winner, Kevin Balot from the Philippines, Ohio also takes home Bt300,000, gift certificates and one free surgical intervention “for anything” at a leading Bangkok cosmetic surgery clinic.
Ohio is particularly grateful for the support and acceptance from her family which, she says, has given her strength and confidence.
“It very was difficult at first, especially for my father, to see his son turn into a woman. But he never stopped loving and supporting me, and even paid for my breast implants,” says the Brazilian beauty, who won a transgender pageant in Brazil earlier this year.
This year’s pageant on the theme “Shine like a Diamond” is the ninth edition of Tiffany’s Miss International Queen and saw 25 contestants from 16 countries, including three from Brazil, and a first-timer from Myanmar.
From their arrival in Thailand on October 27 right up to the crowning ceremony on Friday, the ladies were kept busy with various activities and mini-competitions organised as part of a “beauty camp”.
Spanish contestant Carolina Medina won the Miss Congeniality award, while Nethnapada and Singapore’s Anne Patricia Lee won the Miss Photogenic and Miss Ripley’s Popular Vote titles respectively.
This year, part of the proceeds from the event will go to the Thai Red Cross Society for HIV patients.
Pattaya’s famous Tiffany’s Show was started four decades ago as a tourist attraction, as well as to offer safe and legitimate jobs for the transgender community.
In 2004, the show started hosting the pageant to provide a platform for transgenders from all over the world to showcase their beauty and talents.
Recognised as one of the nations most tolerant of the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community, transgenders in Thailand are generally accepted by society and many have found successful careers in various sectors, including government service.
“It is in our character to be tolerant. We are free here, and we are a service-oriented people,” pageant organiser and Tiffany’s Show Pattaya manager Alisa Phanthusak says.
Like Ohio, some contestants see the pageant as more than an avenue to showcase their beauty and ability to sing and dance. To them, it is integral to their efforts strive to be accepted a part of society.
“Here through this pageant, we are not discriminated against but celebrated. It gives us a sense of worth. We get to meet people just like ourselves from all over the world, and we don’t feel cast aside or like the odd one out,” says Malaysian contestant Nur Sajat Fariz.
The 28-year-old, 1.80-metre tall beauty who won the Best Talent competition for her traditional “Asmaradana” dance performance, adds that she joined the competition not just to win a crown, but also to send a message, especially to her fellow Malaysians, that “transgenders are people too”.
According to Nur Sajat, life is hard for transgenders in Malaysia where they are mostly shunned by society. With most job opportunities closed to them, many have no choice but to work on the streets.
 “I may have changed my gender, but that does not mean that I cannot contribute to my country.
“We are not asking for much, not even for any laws to be changed. All we want is to be accepted for who we are,” she says.