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Miss Universe is Breaking Barriers With Its First Openly Gay Contestant


It’s taken 67 years, but when 90 beauty pageant hopefuls strut their stuff across the stage for the Miss Universe competition this Sunday, December 8th, they will be joined by the pageant’s first openly gay contestant—and it’s about time.

The pageant world isn’t especially known for its inclusivity. Contestants have historically been overwhelmingly thin, white and model tall. But times are changing. Last year Miss Universe had their first openly trans contestant and this year, for the first time ever, Miss America, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA are all black women.

By being the first out gay woman in Miss Universe’s history, Miss Myanmar Swe Zin Htet is helping to write the next chapter in pageant representation. She’s also leaving a lasting and hopefully change-inducing mark in her own country, where same sex relationships are illegal. “A majority of people in Myanmar are not accepting of this,” Zin Htet says of her sexuality. “But my goal is to make them look at me and others that are like me just the same.”

According to the Myanmar Times, members of the LGBTQ+ community can still be prosecuted for being who they are and loving who they love. They are verbally teased and beaten, and being gay is, “punishable with a lengthy stint in prison.”

That’s what makes Zin Htet’s bravery so impressive. “LGBTQ people in Myanmar do not have equal rights and I want to change that,” she says of her decision to come out despite knowing it could create a backlash in the country she calls home. “I feel like if I am open about my sexuality others will open up, too.”

By choosing to come out on such a public stage, she is opening the door for increased inclusivity—while also putting herself at risk. Of course, coming out so publicly wasn’t easy. “This decision was a little bit difficult for me because I’m shy,” she said, recognizing that coming out would increase the public’s interest in her private life.



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Valentina Sampaio Is Reportedly Victoria's Secret's First Openly Transgender Model


Valentina Sampaio is making history once again: She’s reportedly the first openly transgender model to work with Victoria’s Secret. Sampaio broke the news herself on Instagram on Friday (July 2) by posting a pic of herself in a fluffy bathrobe: “Backstage click @vspink ??,” she captioned the photo, adding a string of hashtags: “#bastidores #new #vspink #campaign #representatividade #diversity #beauty #selfie #model #life #fashion #usa #vstorm #valentinasampaio #bomdia.” According to a statement from the company, the Brazilian model and actress is featured in the the back-to-campus campaign for Victoria’s Secret PINK.

Sampaio’s post received a ton of support, including congrats from Victoria’s Secret Angel (and fellow Brazilian) Lais Ribeiro, who posted how happy she was about the news on Twitter, and Laverne Cox, who wrote “Wow finally!” in the comments of Sampaio’s Instagram.

Sampaio posted a video of herself to Instagram as well, seeming to reference her milestone in the caption—and the PINK campaign again in the hashtags. “Never stop dreaming genteee ???,” she wrote. “#staytuned #bastidores #new #vspink #campaign #representatividade #diversity #beauty #selfie #life #fashion #usa #vstorm #valentinasampaio ?✌?”

Victoria’s Secret came under fire last year for comments made by its chief marketing officer, Ed Razek, during an interview with Vogue. When he was asked about why the company didn’t include transgender or plus-size models in its shows, he responded that he didn’t believe they should be featured, calling the show a “fantasy.”

Trans models like Carmen Carrera and Leyna Bloom have publicly expressed their desire to walk for Victoria’s Secret. In 2013, Carrera was the subject of a Change.org petition, which received more than 35,000 signatures, asking the company to make her the brand’s first transgender model. Last April, Bloom launched a Twitter campaign to be the first trans woman of color to walk the show’s runway.

Sampaio herself is no stranger to advocating for representation. She was also the first trans model on any Vogue cover, appearing on the March 2017 cover of Vogue Paris (she also appeared on the covers of Vogue Brazil and Vogue Germany later that year). “Her accomplishment comes despite recent setbacks for the LGBT community in Brazil—including a spike in hate crimes and killings of LGBT people,” Buzzfeed wrote in a profile of her in June 2017. “Though the reality for most trans women in Brazil differs sharply from Sampaio’s, her ascent to fashion’s most coveted spot is seen both as a milestone and the mark of a new normal for transgender people in her industry.”





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Miss Universe Is Making History with the Pageant's First Openly Trans Contestant


When Angela Ponce takes the stage during this year’s Miss Universe pageant—all tan lithe limbs and radiant blowout in a hot pink bikini—it’s easy to see why she’s favored to win the competition, currently underway in Thailand. Tall, blonde, soft-spoken and impeccably glamorous, she’s a walking archetype of what you might imagine one Donald J. Trump envisioning as the perfect pageant queen. (He owned Miss Universe from 1996 to 2015.) But Ponce, who currently holds the title of Miss Spain 2018, is much more representative of the pageant’s future than its past—she’s the first openly transgender woman to ever compete for the crown.

Ponce during the swimwear portion of the preliminary Miss Universe competition in Bangkok.

Amorn Pitayanant

The very fact of Ponce’s candidacy is historic. Being on the world stage as an openly transgender woman in a role that’s traditionally been held up as the the ultimate embodiment of womanhood is damn impressive (and overdue). “It’s important that people can see you to feel that they have a positive reference,” Ponce says. “It’s important that people see women like me to know that the ideas they may have about transgender people aren’t always true.”

But Ponce isn’t interested in simply being a silent symbol. She’s taking advantage of her moment on the global stage to speak out about the issue of gender identity—specifically, the rights of transgender adults and minors to be able to define their correct gender on official forms of ID. “It’s about [fighting for] the right to be,” she says. “It would diminish bullying and prejudice and the pain that society puts on us, unintentionally, for not knowing more about being transgender.”

The thing is, these simple semantics matter. The right to be addressed and identified correctly, would have made a big difference for Ponce growing up, she says, citing the total sense of vulnerability and rejection she felt when her childhood doctor continued to refer to her by her previous (male) name.

That brings us, inevitably, to Donald Trump, whose long history with the Miss Universe pageant, and of making disparaging comments about transgender individuals, loom large over our conversation. Earlier this year, the Trump administration signaled it would attempt to roll back civil rights protections of transgender individuals under federal law—effectively erasing the estimated 1.4 million adults who identify as trans in the U.S. In Trump’s view, gender is an unchangeable fact defined by the genitalia you are born with.

Angela Ponce in white flamenco dress.

Ponce onstage representing Spain during the National Costume Show.

Amorn Pitayanant

Despite this—or likely, let’s be honest, because of it—Ponce says she’d love the chance to sit down with President Trump. “I really don’t know what might cross his mind…but I would like to have a conversation one human being to another and try to explain to him that the rights I am fighting for are simply the rights of every human being,” she says. “I would try to make him feel in his heart the importance of understanding other people. And I would try to help him understand with the position that he’s in, he could help save lives.”

In a pageant that’s already had a cringe-worthy controversy, Ponce’s platform of understanding and equality might be why some reports have her favored to win the crown. “I’m working very hard to win and I would be very proud to achieve that,” she says, “not only for my country nor for myself but for all the people whose situation in the world could change if they called my name.” With her historic role and fight to be seen, Ponce has already proved that trans people are a minority that can’t be ignored—or erased.

The Miss Universe pageant will air live December 16 at 7:00 P.M. ET on FOX.



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Kyrsten Sinema Becomes First Female and Openly Bisexual Senator from Arizona


Results are still coming in from last week’s midterm elections and yes, women are continuing to break barriers. While there are still contested races in Georgia and Florida where candidates like Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum are awaiting their fates, Monday night brought the good news that the Arizona Senate race finally came to a close when Democrat Kyrsten Sinema was declared the winner over Republican Martha McSally.

Sinema, a former social worker, will be the first woman to represent Arizona and the first openly bisexual person ever elected to the Senate. The race had been too close to call over the past week and early votes and mail-in ballots had to be counted.

“As long as I’ve served Arizona, I’ve worked to help others see our common humanity & find common ground,” Sinema posted on Facebook after her victory. “That’s the same approach I’ll take to representing our great state in the Senate, where I’ll be an independent voice for all Arizonans.”

Her opponent McSally, a former fighter pilot, shared a video on Twitter congratulating Sinema on her win and wishing her success.

“Congrats to @kyrstensinema,” she wrote. “I wish her success. I’m grateful to all those who supported me in this journey. I’m inspired by Arizonans’ spirit and our state’s best days are ahead of us.”

Many feel Sinema’s victory in winning the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Jeff Flake is a sign of rebuke to President Donald Trump’s policies and platform. “Arizona voters rejected Donald Trump and Mike Pence’s politics of bigotry and fear and made history by electing bold pro-equality champion Kyrsten Sinema as the nation’s first openly bisexual U.S. Senator,” said Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin in a statement. “For more than a year, HRC has worked to organize 800,000 equality voters across the state and we are proud to have helped Senator-elect Sinema across the finish line in a tight race. We celebrate this incredible moment and look forward to rolling up our sleeves and getting to work with Sinema, and Arizona Congressmembers Tom O’Halleran, Ann Kirkpatrick, Raul Grijalva, Ruben Gallego, and Greg Stanton to move equality forward for all Arizonans.”

Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez echoed that sentiment: “Congratulations to Kyrsten Sinema and Arizona Democrats for such a stunning victory. Arizonans went to the polls last Tuesday looking for bold new leadership, and that’s exactly what they’re going to get with their first-ever female senator and our nation’s second openly LGBTQ senator,” he said.

“Unlike her predecessor, Senator-elect Sinema is ready to fight on day one for quality health care, a VA system that works the way it should for our veterans, comprehensive immigration reform, good-paying jobs, and an economy that works for all Arizonans. The Democratic National Committee was proud to invest in and partner with the Democratic Party of Arizona to expand their voter outreach and help get voters to the polls.”

Sinema’s win guarantees Democrats 47 seats in the Senate (compared to Republicans’ 51.) Florida and Mississippi are undecided.

MORE: This Is How Women Voted in the Midterms—and What It Means for Election 2020





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President Donald Trump Openly Mocked Christine Blasey Ford's Testimony Against Brett Kavanaugh


President Donald Trump may have stooped to a new low Tuesday night when he decided to openly mock Christine Blasey Ford and her allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during a rally in Mississippi.

And honestly, the only thing that’s surprising is that it took this long to happen. Gone are the headlines that touted the president’s “restraint,” like CNN’s, which read “Aides quietly stunned by Trump’s respectful handling of Kavanaugh accuser.” In the piece, two sources quoted Trump as saying, “Why would I attack her?”

But last night, that’s exactly what he did, going so far as to imitate Ford.

“’I had one beer.’ Well do you think it was… ‘Nope. It was one beer.’ Oh good. How did you get home? ‘I don’t remember.’ How did you get there? ‘I don’t remember.’ Where is the place? ‘I don’t remember,'” Trump said, prompting laughter from those in the crowd. “How many years ago was it? ‘I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.’ What neighborhood was it in? ‘I don’t know.’ Where’s the house? ‘I don’t know. Upstairs. Downstairs. I don’t know. But I had one beer that’s the only thing I remember.'”

“And a man’s life is in tatters,” Trump continued. “A man’s life is shattered.” Then, echoing his comments from earlier in the day when he expressed fear for young men in the age of #MeToo, he claimed that he had many “false allegations” against him, adding that the crowd should “think of your son” because men are “guilty until proven innocent.”

Perhaps even more jarring than Trump’s own outrageous words is the laughter and applause of the crowd. Many social media users made the astute connection between the reactions at the rally and Ford’s poignant testimony about her memory of the alleged attack: “Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two,” she said of the one thing she remembers the most about that night more than 30 years ago.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.)—who helped request the FBI investigation into Kavanaugh which delayed the confirmation vote—appeared on the Today show Wednesday morning and condemned Trump’s speech. “There’s no time and no place for remarks like that,” he said. “I wish he hadn’t have done it. It’s kind of appalling.”

Twitter agreed—and many wonder how this type of rhetoric will affect senators like Flake, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) who are thought to be on the fence regarding their Kavanaugh nomination votes.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said that the Senate will vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination this week.

MORE: Christine Blasey Ford Cites ‘Uproarious Laughter’ as Strongest Memory of Alleged Kavanaugh Assault





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Danica Roem Just Became Virginia's First Openly Transgender Lawmaker


Danica Roem made history on Tuesday night when she became the first openly transgender woman elected to a state legislature.

The 33-year-old Democrat and former journalist will now take over a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates that previously belonged to 13-term Republican incumbent Robert Marshall. During his time as a Virginia delegate, Marshall consistently tried to undermine LGBTQ rights. He wrote an anti-gay marriage amendment as well as a transgender bathroom bill modeled after the North Carolina law (both measures were ultimately struck down.) He also attempted to ban gay people from serving in Virginia’s National Guard and once described himself as the state’s “chief homophobe.”

Roem, however, focused her campaign on remedying traffic congestion and infrastructure problems within the district. Beyond this, job creation, improving public schools, and fighting for civil rights were all cornerstones of her campaign.

As noted by The Advocate, Althea Garrison, a black woman, was the first transgender woman to hold office at the state level when she was elected in 1992. However, she was not out at the time of the election and was outed by The Boston Herald against her wishes.

Roem was not the only candidate making Virginia history Tuesday night. Hala Ayala and Elizabeth Guzman became the first Latina women ever elected to the House of Delegates, with both unseating Republican incumbents.

And in Minneapolis, Andrea Jenkins became the first openly transgender black woman to be elected to public office in the United States. Jenkins had 12 years of experience working with different members of the Minneapolis city council and campaigned on a platform that included raising the minimum wage, creating affordable housing, and treating youth violence as a public health concern.





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