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Transgender beauty queen Kevin Balot clarified her stand and took back an earlier statement she made about transwomen joining traditional beauty pageants is "not equality anymore.”

In an online "Queentuhan" on Tuesday, June 23, with hosts beauty queens Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, Mutya ng Pilipinas Intercontinental 2010 Carla Lizarda, and Binibining Pilipinas International 2014 Bianca Guidotti, Kevin previously said that traditional pageants should stay intact to its principle and must be only for natural-born women.

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A post shared by The girl named Kevin. (@kevinbalot) on Apr 7, 2020 at 4:06am PDT

"We transwomen always ask for equality. Us transgender women joining sa mga Miss Universe is not equality anymore.

“Hindi lang ako sang-ayon sa gano'ng bagay kasi we have our own pageant. We have our Miss International Queen pageant, which is the most prestigious transgender beauty pageant," she said.

“If us joining pageant ng mga babae, hindi na siya equality e, parang asking too much na,” she added.

She then said that transgender women can join "if organizers allow" but "we have to respect each other."

Her statement received mixed reactions from netizens and became one of the most-talked-about topics on Twitter.

Girl i really looked up to queen Kevin Balot cause her presence as an openly proud trans woman really helped our community. So disappointed to hear na we're apparently “asking for too much” when we fight to get represented in beauty pageants. Hay lungkot pic.twitter.com/LXpXbfJXOK

-- Gigi on YouTube (@gigiesguerra) June 23, 2020

I totally agree with Kevin Balot. I am a woman and I support the LGBTQI community but please leave something to us that we can call ours. Respect begets respect, so please respect our space. That is all we want to ask. #IStandWithKevinBalot pic.twitter.com/s3L4Jw8bzI

-- Darna (@IndayAngBato) June 23, 2020

Kevin Balot wanting to set back victories made by women like Angela Ponce, is peak privilege. Segegrating women's pageants only reinforces the denial of the womanhood of trans women.

It's not asking for too much, when they give you nothing to begin with.

-- Ja #SOGIEEqualityNow 🏳️‍🌈 (@dyaelgonzales) June 23, 2020

Walang mali sa sinabi ni kevin balot."What is the essence of being a woman?" ,Former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen answered,"To bare a child,to become a mother"(Not exact words),But i guess this gives huge difference between naturally born woman and transwoman. https://t.co/CU9HUGnG1D

-- AmadeoTaculod (@AmadeoTaculod) June 23, 2020

Kevin Balot didn't say anything wrong. She shared her perspective and those choices just like ours must be respected. It is her prerogative and is a basic human standard.
You can disagree with her all you want but that doesn't mean you can invalidate her.

-- DAWN CHANG (@thedawnchang) June 23, 2020

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A few hours after the podcast episode, Kevin retracted and clarified her sentiment in a series of tweets.

“Hello everyone! Gusto ko lang po i-clear 'yung confusion. Hindi naman po sa naniniwala ako na hindi dapat sumali ang transgender women sa traditional pageants.

“What I meant was bilang isang representative ng Miss International Queen, gusto ko lang na ma-recognize ang pageant na ito as the most prestigious pageant for transwomen.

“I know na mali ako for saying na 'too much' na or 'hindi na equality' 'yun pero just know na hinding-hindi po 'yun ang paniniwala ko.

“I just used the wrong terms dahil hindi po ako ganu'n kagaling at expressing myself in English.”

She then thanked those who understood her.

“Thank you for all your comments and bubulay bulayin ko po lahat yun para ma improve ang way of thinking ko. Please know na kaisa nyo ako sa pakikipaglaban para sa pagkakapantay pantay ng lahat. I'm really sorry for the confusion,” she noted.

Hello everyone! gusto ko lang po i-clear yung confusion. Hindi naman po sa naniniwala ako na hindi dapat sumali ang transgender women sa traditional pageants. What I meant was bilang isang representative ng Miss International Queen, gusto ko lang na ma recognize ang pageant na-

-- The girl named Kevin. (@KevinBalot) June 23, 2020

ito as the most prestigious pageant for transwomen. I know na mali ako for saying na "too much" na or "hindi na equality" yun pero just know na hinding hindi po ayun ang paniniwala ko. I just used the wrong terms dahil hindi po ako ganun kagaling at expressing myself in english.

-- The girl named Kevin. (@KevinBalot) June 23, 2020

Thank you for all your comments and bubulay bulayin ko po lahat yun para ma improve ang way of thinking ko. Please know na kaisa nyo ako sa pakikipaglaban para sa pagkakapantay pantay ng lahat. I'm really sorry for the confusion.

-- The girl named Kevin. (@KevinBalot) June 23, 2020

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Kevin Balot was crowned Miss International Queen in 2012 and is an advocate of LGBTQIA+ rights.