On July 27 eight contestants ranging in age from 19 to 26 years old representing Angola, India, East Africa, Japan, Panama, The United Kingdom, Mauritius, and two from the Philippines competed in the first annual Tranny Queen Of the World 'Queen of Nations' pageant held at London's Bloomsbury Theatre.
The contestants in the inaugural pageant were either current or former pageant titleholders, 1st-5th alternates, runner-ups, or prestigious award winners in pageants in their towns, regions or country in the preceding two years.
The pageant has some lofty goals. This pageant is not as the TQW organizers put it a 'one day glitz and glamour event'. The winner wil spend her reign doing a lot of charity work. The Queen of Nations organizers are planning to hold charity fund raising events for underprivileged t-girls in countries who unfortunately face discrimination and prejudice every day.The TQW organizers also wish to start a development program in conjunction with other charity organizations that helps t-girls quit prostitution and escorting.
In addition to those goals as listed in their mission statement, the Queen of Nations pageant wishes to campaign against the negative views of transgender women as sex objects, and give beautiful, talented young transwomen a platform to express themselves as beautiful, intelligent, and creative individuals. Another goal is to celebrate the beauty, femininity and creativity of transgender women.
The TQW pageant organizers want this pageant to become a platform for transgender voices to be heard. They desire to promote acceptance, appreciation and respect for who we are. TQW also wishes for transwomen to be seen as positive examples for women all around the world and encourage transkids to be their true selves. The TQW organizers are already at work searching for contestants and planning the 2008 pageant.
The winner of the inaugural 2007 Miss Queen of Nations title was Amanda De Leon, one of the two contestants representing the Philippines. Her thoughts are shared by transwomen all over the world when she stated, "I dream of a time and place where women like me would be accepted, respected and treated with fairness by the rest of humanity."Let's hope that day comes sooner rather than later.