Transgender woman gets ‘yes card’ in Bangladeshi beauty pageant

Beauty pageant show Miss Evergreen Bangladesh held their audition round today at a five-star hotel in Gulshan. 

Amongst the contestants Radiya Tehrin Uthso, a transgender woman, received a yes card to enter the competition. This is the first time a transgender person entered a beauty pageant show.

Elated with this, she shared to the media that she would like to represent transgender community in front of the world. "We, transgender women are beautiful, talented and we have the right to be educated like any other human," she shared.

Surprising everyone, the jury members gave her a green signal to become a part of the main competition. 

Amongst the jury members were renowned artistes like Moutushi Biswas, Jyotika Jyoti, Antu Kareem, Zakiya Sultana Kornia, and Ivan Shahriar Sohag.

Radiya shared her excitement, saying that she was not sure if the judges would accept her. "As a transgender woman, getting a chance to become a part of this contest is a huge achievement for me," she added.

She dreams of participating in the Miss International Queen competition, which is the world's biggest beauty pageant for transgender women. "Trans women from almost all over the world have participated in that contest, however, none from Bangladesh could still be a part of it."

Radiya dreams to be the first one participating in that competition representing Bangladesh. 

As she is about to begin a new journey, she also spoke about the struggles she faced during childhood. I was born with hormonal issues, my parents used to treat me as a boy, however, my features and behaviour were feminine, thus people used to bully me everywhere I went." 

She also discussed that transgender individuals are deprived of the rights of proper education, job opportunity, and there is no platform where they can present themselves.

Radiya wants to inspire everyone who is shy and lacks confidence in them, for being different.