Supermodel Geena Rocero sees bright future for trans women in pageants

Filipina supermodel and TED speaker Geena Rocero says that the world of beauty pageants has become more accepting of transgender women.

The transgender advocate, a former beauty queen before leaving for the United States in 2005, said that the language has become more inclusive for the trans community.

“Joining pageants at such a young age is something that changed my life a lot,” she shares to GMANetwork.com.

“I used to join pageants in every barrio all over the Philippines. From Pangasinan all the way to Ilocos Norte and all over Manila --- I joined it all.”

She adds, “It [pageant] has definitely changed.

“I think one particular thing that I know is that people see trans women as women now. There's that change when it comes to the evolution of language and how people are communicating and what it means to be a trans person.”

“I want to point out a story of one of my trans sisters, the most famous Kristina Dandan.

“She posted on Facebook saying that one of the things she's learned from my journey, and speaking for trans rights, is that the changes in pageant culture are [sic] the changing of 'Miss Gay' pageants to 'Miss Queen.' She was a former Miss Gay Parañaque, and as a reigning queen, she advocated that instead of calling it Miss Gay the next year, they should call it Miss Queen.

“There's nothing wrong with calling it to Miss Gay; it's just that it's more inclusive, and that's what has changed --- the language, the definition, and the evolution of communication with the trans community when it comes to joining pageants.”

Geena Rocero came out as a transgender woman in March 2014, the same day as the International Transgender Day of Visibility.

She came out as a transgender while giving a TED talk in New York City in 2014. A video of the talk became one of the most viral videos that year.

Since then, Geena founded the media production company Gender Proud, an oragnization that tells the stories of the transgender community worldwide in order to elevate justice and equality. She has already spoken about transgender rights at the United Nations Headquarters, the World Economic Forum, and the White House.