Shimmering in a tight gold evening gown, a Japanese television host wept and called for greater tolerance as she was crowned the world’s most beautiful transsexual at a pageant in Thailand.
Haruna Ai, 37, beat off stiff competition from 20 other glamorous contestants at the Miss International Queen 2009 who came to the Thai beach resort of Pattaya from as far as Brazil and the United States. The contest, which was called off last year because of political turmoil in Thailand, is taken just as seriously as more traditional pageants in a nation famed for its sexual tolerance. Millions of Thais watched live on television late Saturday as the statuesque beauties — all of them born men — strutted their stuff at Tiffany’s Show Pattaya, billed as the world’s largest transsexual cabaret. Japan’s Ai won 10,000 dollars, a year’s stay at a Pattaya hotel and a 500-dollar surgical voucher after judges picked her over runners-up Karngsadal Wongdusadeekul from Thailand and Daniela Marques of Brazil. While the audience may have whooped and cheered raucously, contestants and organisers said there was a serious side to the pageant — boosting public awareness of transgender issues.
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