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Pageants and gays
 

Congratulations! PNB leads the way again. You are so much braver than all those "respectable" pageant people. They wave the flag and quote the Bible in public and then gossip and trash-talk and do everything else in private.

Lem Wilson

I think you SHOULD include info on gay pageants as well as all male beauty pageants. I believe
as you do, in equal opportunity, and in promoting a non-discrimination policy.
Thanks and love your site,

Nelson

I still don't believe homosexuality is right. I'm not being a "bigot." I just believe in what people have believed in for thousands of years. It's traditional morality. I know it's not just homosexuality, either. Morality is out the window even in pageants, people having affairs, and some of the "swimsuit" pageants are really just about nudity. Mothers with daughters know what I mean.
Sincerely,

Ruffy Winters

Are these drag queens or lipstick lesbians? I can't tell. But either way, cool!

Mr. X

Throughout the years, I have greatly appreciated the informative updates that pageant.com has provided. The staff and contributors have done an excellent job since its inception. The primary focus and goal is providing pageant information, regardless of what type of pageant it may be, from coverage of the biggest pageants (Miss Universe/World), to the oldest (Miss America) and everything in between. Although I have never heard of Miss Gay Metropolitan Tokyo, it is nonetheless a pageant and therefore warrants coverage. Thank you for your continued coverage and keep up the excellent work!

Davace Chin

I think your open-mindedness is refreshing. If you wish to cover non-traditional pageants, by all means, go for it. After all you are a NEWS site......
Keep up the good work,

Maria Beall

Thank you, PNB. It's the right thing to do.

Eliza R.

I used to be opposed to gay pageants, [and] to gay people, I guess. Now I don't know. Sometimes it's hard to tell a man from a woman. Some of the gay men in women's clothes look more beautiful than a woman. And if all the surgeries can turn a woman into a better woman, maybe it can turn a man into a woman. I think someday they will have former men in Miss America. People won't be upset about it and maybe won't know.

I like Asian women anyway. And these Gay Metropolitan girls look very sweet. And did you know that the most famous female star in [South] Korea used to be a man? Her name is Harisu (sounds like Harry Sue). She's beautiful. Even in nude pictures, she's a woman. They are auditioning her for an American movie. It's going to be called "When Harry Met Sue." It's not a joke.

Jackie

[Editor's note: What the reader says about Harisu of South Korea is true, but the "American movie project" is apparently a hoax. It may indeed have started with a joke.]

I think your article on Miss Gay Metropolitan Tokyo pageant is absolutely wonderful. There are many types of pageants out there, because there are many types of people out there. And since the foundations of most pageants are about diversity, pride, education (life), achievement, experience with a touch of flair for style and fashion, the Miss Gay Metropolitan Tokyo pageant has all these ingredients, just as the Miss America, Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, Miss Universe, Miss Black USA, Mister International, Americas Junior Miss, Miss World or even Miss Nude America pageant does.

Each pageant has a special meaning and purpose, and a gay pageant is no exception. A gay man participating in a pageant stands up and represents his ideas, his pride, his community and mixes it with talent, creativeness and fashion. Just as most pageants have a platform or provide an opportunity to work for great charitable causes, a gay pageant contestant/winner does the same.

"Times are a-changing," and pageants move right along with these "changing times." If I can remember, a Miss USA contestant couldn't wear a 2-piece bikini, an African-American women couldn't represent her community, a handicapped women couldn't win or participate for the title of Miss America, a married women or a mother couldn't compete in pageants, and now we can say there was a time when a gay man couldn't win or participate in a pageant. Too many couldn'ts and not enough should of's.

A very good friend of mine competed in the Miss Gay Missouri pageant. It was his first time to enter and he won the title and went on to compete at the Miss Gay America pageant. He worked very hard and spent a lot if time and energy just as any contestant does in any pageant. It's a ton of work and I can appreciate anyone who can stand on any stage and represent their ideas with a sense of pride of who they are. Not what they are, but who they are.

Just like anything else, pageants are not for everyone and don't have to be, but for us pageant fans, I like them all. Thank You! Pageant News Bureau for being open-minded and diverse just as any pageant, contestant or winner you feature does. Anyone who believes a gay pageant is wrong or shouldn't be featured on your Web site, just refer them to my third paragraph.
Good Job!

F. Louis Acuna

Ugh!! Please quote me.

A real pageant fan

I want to preface what I'm going to write by saying that for two of the three years I competed in the Miss America system, my platform was Hate-Crime Education and Prevention. The majority of hate crimes in the U.S. are committed against gays, so I've got a particular bias.

I see only one reason for excluding news about gay pageants: closed-minded prejudice. It is my sense that the pageant world has never been gay-friendly, to contradict a comment in your article. I think, if anything, it is tolerated. It's my opinion that most gay women probably don't feel at all welcome in pageants, so I think it's great that those who are interested started their own. And as for reporting, don't be afraid of excluding readers. Are the bigots who would be offended that gays may be "infiltrating our" hobby the kind of readers you really want in the first place?
My two Cents

Rebecca Bolnick
Miss Sonoma County, CA 2001
Miss Sacramento County, CA 2002
Miss Maricopa County, AZ 2003

Dear Editor,
It would seem to be just another ploy to have another entry in the pageant. It's not good enough to be normal and compete against one another. No, they segregate themselves to get a name for their cause. Where does one draw the line?

Do we stop at Miss Gay Metro? Why wouldn't we have a Miss Black Metro, a Miss Gringo Metro, a Miss Latino Metro, a Miss Handicap Metro, a Miss Homeless Metro, a Miss Rich Snoot Metro, a Miss It's My Daughter Metro, a Miss But She's So Cute Metro, a Miss Mensa Metro, a Miss Science And Math Metro, a Miss WICCA Metro, a Miss On And On Metro....?

This homosexual thing is out of hand. Bend to pressure of a public protest. Bend to pressure from a Jesse Jackson lawsuit possibility. Bend to Hispanic business boycotts....
Just be an American. Being a "Segregated Cause" American is the problem, not the cure.
So, to answer your questions: No; No; and Yes.
Sincerely,

DRH

Your tepid acknowledgment of the existence of "drag" pageants is hardly a cause for self-congratulation. These flouncy homages to feminine glamour are nothing new, and they are far too campy to be threatening. Most female pageant competitors "adore" gay men, because they find them safe. And because gay men generally have a sense of style, while beauty queens invariably do not, they form lucrative alliances.

As I wrote some years ago, when I was briefly affiliated with your publication, the real taboo is lesbianism. How many "gay-friendly" women in the pageant business are terrified of other women's sexuality? Most.

Pamela A. Lamont
[Editor's note: Ms. Lamont, a critic of the pageant industry, formerly wrote for PNB. Her columns are still available, and e-mails to her can be forwarded.]

Homosexuality and pageants go together. I have studied psychology, and there's a strong homoerotic dimension to female beauty pageants, just as with male bodybuilding. The perfect body is the objectification of desire. In America, because of the influence of the religious right, most women do not express this openly, but lesbianism is the main dynamic that induces women to compete.

S.F.

No. Please no gay news. Pageants should hold the line.

Linda Smith

I'm an American woman, and I compete in pageants for married women. It looks to me as if gay marriage is going to be legal soon. And when women start legally marrying each other, they will have a right to compete in married women's pageants.

I don't know how this will work. Will one of the women officially be the "husband"? Will both women get to compete? That would be interesting. To tell the truth, I'm not comfortable with this. I'm heterosexual, and I was raised with traditional values.

But will l accept gay married women in pageants? Yes, I'm sure I will welcome them. You can't turn back the clock. A few years from now, when the new Mrs. Something is kissing her female spouse, the rest of us will cry and applaud. And we will be thinking how far we've come.

Name withheld by request

Miss Gay Metropolitan Tokyo 2003

The title on the banner says a lot.

Krizriannedrea Dawn Barrameda, 21, who captured the crown in spring 2003, looks very pretty, maybe prettier than some of the queens PNB has profiled over the years. But there's a difference. This is a gay pageant.

Specifically, it's "a gay pageant for Filipino contract workers in Japan . . . produced by Philippine Nightingale Organization, a non-political and non-profit organization." There's nothing controversial about that official description, except maybe the first word.

The pageant world, in particular, is known for being both socially conservative and gay-friendly.

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