A 25-year-old from Nuthall hopes to raise awareness of transgender issues by representing Nottingham in the Miss Transgender UK Pageant.
Rhian Clarke, 25, from Nuthall, will be representing Nottingham in the first ever Miss Transgender UK pageant later this year.
Rhian left Nottingham to study at Manchester University as she didn’t feel comfortable in the city. Now living back in the city, she see’s this as an opportunity to raise more awareness of transgender issues.
She said: “Now I’m myself I’m looking forward to the competition. The pageants not about beauty, obviously I’ve had surgery but it’s more about what we’ve been through.”
To be eligible to apply contestants must be a male to female transgender person.
Rhian Clarke.
The founder of the event, Rachael Bailey, has high hopes for the contest and the awareness it will raise.
She said: “Our society is completely based on looks, transgender women that pass as women are treated normally, but those of us who don’t often aren’t accepted.
It’s time to stop being silly now, we’re not all the same.
Rachael Bailey, founder of the Miss Transgender UK pageant.
When asked where she had the idea from for the competition, Rachael said: “I had a dream, it was so strange and surreal and it actually woke me up in the night, but I saw myself standing on stage opening a pageant.”
The winner of the pageant will win £5,000 and will be on the cover of two New York magazines and five UK magazines, as well as winning a modelling contract in London.
The modelling contract would be amazing for me and it would open doors for more transgender people. There’s not any big transgender role models I can think of in the UK.
Rhian Clarke, Miss Transgender UK pageant contestant.
The pageant will also raise money for charities including Transgender in Wales, Sparkle, Elton John Aids Foundation, Blueprint22 and tgpals.org.
The Miss Transgender UK Pageant is being filmed and made into a documentary on Channel 4.
