Newport will host the Miss Gay and Miss Transsexual Australia pageant as part of this month’s Midsumma Festival.
Deer Park nurse J.O. Rojas (pictured), the reigning Miss Transsexual Australia, said the event’s aim was to raise awareness of issues facing the gay and transgender communities.
“It’s been a struggle for a long time –discrimination,” she said.
“Some people still see us as a burden or something like that, but I just want to open their eyes that we’re just like anyone else, human beings going through life. We have struggles, we go through life like you.”
Ms Rojas, 30, said her mother at first didn’t accept her after her gender change but then realised she was missing out on her daughter’s life.
“I grew up in the Philippines, it’s a very conservative country,” she said. “In my family, I was the first one like full-on transgender and my mum wasn’t very accepting at first.
“I left home during college when I was studying.
“It took a bit of time before my mum accepted me and then she realised, ‘I have a daughter and she’s beautiful’. She realised she’d been missing all that for not accepting me right away.
“With that support, I felt more at ease with everything. I just want to encourage everyone going through what I’ve been through … just stay strong.”
The pageant will be held at The Substation on January 30.
