Beauty Pageants and the LGBTQ Community

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LGBTQ participation in beauty pageants has an active history in local communities around the world. This has now grown to include global pageants such as Miss Universe and Mr. Gay World. An interesting aspect of LGBTQ pageants is their embrace of gender diversity. The greater acceptance of the LGBTQ community into the mainstream may negate the need for gender-specific competitions in the future.

Female beauty pageants have been at the forefront of public exposure to LGBTQ issues recently and include those impacting the transgender community. There is a long history of transgender and transsexual activity in theatre and cabaret as a legitimate form of entertainment and this has spread to the realm of the formal beauty pageant. A Canadian model and actor, transgender Jenna Talackova fought a ruling that prohibited her from competing in the Miss Universe Canada beauty pageant and won her case. This set new rules for transgender acceptance and rights in such global competitions. Transgender businesswoman Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip of Thailand is the owner of the Miss Universe global franchise, which filed for bankruptcy in 2023.

Male beauty contests in the past were dominated by body-building competitions. Today, they also consist of more traditional country pageants and specific LGBTQ pageants such as Mr. Gay International, Mr. Gay World, and more.

There is wide representation of the LGBTQ community in Beauty Pageants in developing and Asian countries. Countries as diverse as Mongolia and Namibia hold annual beauty pageants for the LGBTQ community.

Argentina

  • Carlos Melia, contestant; Mr. Gay Argentina 2007 and Mr. Gay International 2008

Australia

Canada

China

Denmark

France

Germany

Great Britain

India

Mongolia

Namibia

Portugal

Spain

Thailand

The Netherlands


The Philippines

Russia

United States

See Also

Further Reading/Research


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