Transsexual Miss World contest aims to boost awareness

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

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.

Transsexualism is a condition in which an individual identifies with a physical sex different from the one they were born with. A medical diagnosis can be made if a person experiences discomfort as a result of a desire to be a member of the opposite sex, or if a person experiences impaired functioning or distress as a result of that gender identification. Transsexualism is stigmatized in many parts of the world but has become more widely known in Western culture in the mid to late 20th century, concurrently with the sexual revolution and the development of sexual reassignment surgeries.

Five NRI Couple booked for rape of two sisters

JALANDHAR: Five persons, including an NRI Couple , were booked for allegedly raping and threatening the victim two sisters at their (NRI’s) residence in Nakodar area of the district. Incident came to light today when two sisters in their complaint to police today alleged that yesterday evening they along with their mother were taken to an NRI’s residence for preparing food, by Charanjit Singh, Driver of the NRI identified as Jasbir Singh, who recently returned from England, Police sources said

JALANDHAR: Five persons, including an NRI Couple , were booked for allegedly raping and threatening the victim two sisters at their (NRI’s) residence in Nakodar area of the district.

Incident came to light today when two sisters in their complaint to police today alleged that yesterday evening they along with their mother were taken to an NRI’s residence for preparing food, by Charanjit Singh, Driver of the NRI identified as Jasbir Singh, who recently returned from England, Police sources said.

The complainant alleged that the NRI deliberately sent Gurmeet Kaur, mother the sisters to market for some work and later on forcibly raped them, police said adding that the victims alleged that they were raped by Charanjit Singh (Driver) and his friend Gurcharan Singh also apart from the NRI.

The victims further alleged that wife of the NRI, Kamaljit Kaur along with one more person identified as Manga also came to the spot of crime, but instead of helping the victims, she threatened them of dire consequences, if they would report the matter to police, sources said.

When the victim sisters narrated the whole story to their mother, they decided to report the matter to the concerned police station, sources said adding that medical examination of the victim sisters was conducted today to confirm the facts about the allegations of rape. ( PTI )