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Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi Is Not a ‘Diversity Win’


In the pageant community, many fans have been at odds with the Miss Universe Organization’s direction since WME/IMG bought the pageant from Donald Trump is 2015. The pageant is “no longer about beauty” is a common refrain when a Black woman wins.

“MUO is going through an identity crisis. When Gretchen Carlson [former Miss America and Fox News host] turned last year’s Miss America pageant into a platform speaking tournament, MUO had a great opportunity to serve as a foil,” another disgruntled fan responded. “Instead, they bowed to the whim of the ultra left and are now pandering to snowflakes by promoting victim culture every chance they can get.”

Miss America, which is not affiliated with Miss Universe, has long been seen as the more conservative of the major pageants, putting a higher emphasis on education and platform. Miss Universe has historically been the more glamorous competition.

But in recent years, the pageant has shifted focus from a pure emphasis on beauty and glitz and widened its lens; contestants speak vocally and candidly about issues like race, LGBTQ issues, abortion, and climate change.

Progress is slow, but Miss USA and Miss Universe are now more than glamazons; they’re spokespeople for critical issues. But for some fans, this shift is unwelcome. In competition parlance, it has meant that a woman who is “not pageant pretty” can win if she’s a good public speaker and has the right “credentials.” It’s no surprise that Black women face the brunt of this backlash.

Racism wrapped up in critique still permeates the pageant industry. A Black woman’s win is never just her own personal accomplishment and triumph. It is at worst a “political statement,” or otherwise framed in coded language. She’s a “diverse winner” or a “sign of the times.” Tunzi’s hard work, beauty, and grace is disappointedly — but unsurprisingly — being reduced to a marketing ploy. And that is the conundrum Black women not just in pageants but in most other industries face: Why can’t we ever just win?



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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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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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Miss USA Slammed for Mocking Asian Miss Universe Contestants For Not Speaking English


Miss USA, Sarah Rose Summers, is facing controversy after a video surfaced of her making what seems to be negative comments about two non-English speaking contestants taking part in the 2018 Miss Universe pageant being held in Thailand.

According to People, the video (which you can watch here) was part of an Instagram Live posted by Miss Colombia Valeria Morales, who appears alongside Summers and Miss Australia Francesca Hung.

“She’s so cute and she pretends to know so much English,” Summers said of Miss Vietnam H’Hen Nie. “And then you ask her a question after having a whole conversation with her and she goes — .” She then makes a blank, smiling expression that seems to mock H’Hen before laughing and adding, “She’s adorable.” Morales asks her to repeat the look and Summers obliges.

The trio then discusses Miss Cambodia Rern Sinat, who had earlier posted an Instagram photo of herself with Summers. “Miss Cambodia is here and doesn’t speak any English,” Summers said. “And not a single person here speaks her language. Can you imagine? Francesca said that it would be very isolating and I think yes, and just confusing all the time.”

Summers has since apologized in an Instagram post, although—as you’ll see below—social media reactions are coming fast and furious.

Obviously, social media users wasted no time in letting their criticisms of Summers’ comments be known.

“Do you speak any language except English?” one Instagram commenter asked. “Absolutely enraged that Miss USA, Miss Australia and Miss Colombia made fun of Miss Cambodia and Miss Vietnam for not being able to speak fluent English, TRASH,” wrote another user on Twitter. Another said, “@MissUniverse i wonder if you will still allow Miss USA, Columbia, and Australia to continue in the competition after their racist/ bigoted remarks toward fellow contestant Miss Cambodia. I can’t believe these ladies will be repersenting [sic] their countries!”

The Miss Universe pageant will air live Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. ET on FOX.





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Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado Claps Back at Body-Shaming Trolls


Can we give this former beauty queen another crown, please?

It appears Donald Trump isn’t the only person body-shaming former Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado. The actor, singer, and TV host also has an army of trolls to deal with online. But don’t worry—she knows how to deal with them.

Rude commenters came after Machado on Instagram a few days ago, after she posted a photo of herself at the Premios Tu Mundo award show. Amid positive comments like “hermosa como siempre” (“beautiful as always”) and “siempre sera para mi una miss universo” (“you’ll always be Miss Universe to me”), there were messages like “the extra pounds are noticeable” and “you’re overweight in my opinion”—as if anyone asked.

But not only is Machado perfectly happy with her weight—she’s actually looking to put on more pounds, she told the commenters.

“Yes, and I still have another five pounds more to gain to appear even fatter for the next character that I will be playing,” she wrote.

Machado is a seasoned expert at dealing with haters by now. She entered the national spotlight last fall, when then-candidate Hillary Clinton called out Trump for body-shaming her. Trump owned the Miss Universe pageant in 1996, the year Machado won, and he said some horrible things about her afterward, claiming she’d gained 40 pounds and pressuring her to lose them. He even went to a hotel gym in New York with reporters from 90 media outlets to watch her work out. Machado said in a Clinton campaign video that he called her “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping,” ostensibly referencing her Venezuelan heritage.

Fortunately, it looks like Machado hasn’t let anyone’s body-shaming—not any Instagram troll’s, and definitely not Trump’s—stop her from looking the way she wants.



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