Simply fabulous

There she is - 'Sammy' Sirapassorn is crowned Miss Tiffany's Universe

It was once again a night of eyepopping, heart thumping production numbers as the perfectly madeup contestants sashayed across the stage in their best evening gowns.Like a spinoff of the cabaret theatre Miss Tiffany Show, Saturday night's Miss Tiffany's Universe pagฌeant was all about glittering gowns, huge sets, extralarge headdresses and one fabulous extravaganza.

The annual competition for transgenders and transvestites has raised the bar for katoey beauty pageants to a classy affair, with quality contestants of different eduฌcational backgrounds and profesฌsions.

Thirdyear communication arts student Sirapassorn "Sammy" Auttayakorn from Bangkok's Suan Dusit University bested 29 other contestants to be crowned Miss Tiffany's Universe 2011 in a pageant watched on the small screen by milฌlions of Thais through a delayed telecast. The first runnerup was 23yearold student Saranrat "Nat" Chaiyakorn while coming in a close third was Tissanamadi "Gigi" Bunniyom, a fourth year costumes design student at Bangkok's Rajabhat University.

Tissanamdi, who was initially a crowd favourite, also won the Best in Costume and Miss Photogenic special awards. Other special award winners were Serinapa Petchaboon, who picked up Miss Unlimited Sexy Star for having the best swimsuit, Archiraya Trithanawiboon (Miss Congeniality), Atchreechaya Tanuganurat (Most Stylish Cocktail Dress), Variny Khumpaiphuan (Miss NuRiss Beauty) and Sirapassorn Auttayakorn (Miss Silky Skin By Asoke Skin Hospital).

Sirapassorn, who takes home Bt120,000 and a Toyota Yaris, will represent Thailand at Miss International Queen, a pageant for transvestites and transgenders from around the world, taking place in Pattaya in November.

But beyond all the glamour of this beauty pageant and the apparฌent tolerance it reflects, Thailand remains a very conservative society that frowns upon transgenders and transvestites. Many families still believe that being gay is just a passฌing phase and when boys who show some effeminate tendencies marry off, these strange fads will go away.

Sirapassorn's story is similar to that of past winners and contestฌants.

The 21yearold Chiang Mai native says she's always felt different and her family knew it but shrugged off the idea that she was anything but a boy.

At 15, she started wearing women's clothes, putting on makeup and growing her hair long. The family still believed she was conฌfused and that she would change her mind.

"This is my way of proving to them that this is me," says Sirapassorn.

Acceptance has obviously not been easy but her parents and brother came all the way from Chiang Mai to watch her on stage and gamely posed for pictures, kissฌing and hugging her, after the pagฌeant.

Sirapassorn believed that getting the family's acceptance is the first challenge transgenders, transvesฌtites and gay people have to overฌcome before they can come out in society.

"I will be complete inside and out if and when I am accepted in this society," she says.

She cites past Miss Tiffany's Universe and Miss International Queen winner Treechada "Poy" Malayaporn as an inspiration because "she has opened more avenues for transgender men in Thailand".

Treechada is the model for Thai mobile phone brand GNet and has appeared in television shows and movies, proving that transgenders and transvestites can find a niche in the mainstream entertainment industry, which has traditionally been biased towards straight men and women.

Sirapassorn's message to transฌgender men and others who feel they are trapped in the wrong body is to "just follow yourself. If you think you are a girl, then be a girl and don't mind about your body."

Miss Tiffany Universe 2010 Nalada "Mik" Thamthanakom says she was happy with the contestants this year, saying they showed great talent and wit.

This year's pageant also saw a number of professional contestants, among them a doctor, a flight attenฌdant, a pharmacist, an engineer and a government civil servant.

Miss Tiffany Universe will always be fabulous and more than entertaining. But for Sirapassorn, the show has just started and the challenge to all transgenders and transvestites still remains.