For the past 15 years, the transgender beauty pageant Miss Tiffany’s Universe has been one of the most successful events in Thailand. Shown live on Thai TV, and watched by millions, the pageant is back again this year with a new theme – “Freedom Avant-garde”, with which it hopes to continue to encourage the acceptance of transvestites in Thai society.
In actual fact, if you know much about transgenders or ‘ladyboys’ in Thailand, most are much more accepted than they are in the west, which I have always thought to be such a nice thing.
Transgender girls work in department stores at beauty counters, in offices, in shops and factories, in hospitals and schools, and even as flight attendants on a new Thai airline, and with very little need to hide who they are (again, so unlike the west).
This year’s Miss Tiffany’s Universe beauty pageant then has already kicked off with 30 finalists selected to go through to the final round. The final will be held on May 4th, and the winner will represent Thailand at the Miss International Queen competition at the end of 2012.
Meanwhile, check out the opening of the preliminary round of Miss Tiffany’s Universe, 2012 on this very cool video. You can find the rest of the videos for the entire preliminary round on Jobibi40’s YouTube channel.
If you want to see the girls live during the finals, you can still buy tickets at Thai TicketMajor for 1,500 and 2,500 baht. But buy them soon as they sell very fast every year.
