American trans woman makes history as first woman of color crowned Miss International Queen
Jazell Barbie Royale was recently crowned Miss International Queen 2019 at the world’s transgender beauty pageant, where she made history as the first woman of color to win the title.
The 31-year-old from Orlando, Fla., is no stranger to beauty pageants, having previously secured the title of Miss Continental at the largest LGBTQ pageant in the United States. Still, she was worried about participating in the Miss International Queen pageant in Southeast Asia because of the lack of women of color represented on that particular stage.
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“It was hard coming here to Thailand to compete for this pageant because there is no one else in the past that has won that looks like me,” Royale admitted to Travel News Asia. “There was no one in the pageant this year that looks like me, or even close. So that was kind of hard and sometimes I’ve had my doubts, my feelings like am I wasting my time? Will I be treated equally? Will I even be considered to be the winner?”
Just one day after her interview with the outlet, she found out that the answer to her biggest question would be yes.
“I want to be able to educate people, I want to be able to educate our allies, I want to be able to educate people that don’t like us or don’t understand us,” Royale said. “I want them to see that we’re beautiful, we’re educated, we’re talented, and we can maneuver in society just like anyone else.”
For the HIV activist, her biggest priority is ensuring that people throughout the world are more knowledgable about getting tested and medical care. But she also puts an emphasis on representing her community of trans women — especially those that are African American.
“In America, we have a lot of racism and we’ve had a lot of segregation in our past,” Royale said in her Miss International Queen introductory video. “I think it’s very important that the world see African trans women in a positive life.”
The contestant brought this same message onto the stage with her, where she even touched on President Donald Trump, being the contestant representing the U.S. According to Channel NewsAsia, Royale’s message to Trump would be “please don’t run for next term.”
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