India's first beauty pageant for transwomen on August 27

A beauty pageant for Indian transwomen, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, will be held here on August 27.
Sixteen transwomen from across the country will compete for the crown -- Miss Transqueen India 2017, the organisers said today.
The winner will represent the country at the Miss International Transqueen to be held next year in Thailand.
"Transgender people are often self-stigmatised, or lack confidence to pursue any career that they choose to. They are often made to think that are not good enough for anything besides begging or some menial work.
"We want to change this. Our beauty pageant and its grooming sessions offer hope and is a symbol for change. We want transgenders to get respectable, mainstream work in fashion, film, TV, and alike avenues," Reena Rai, founder of Suhani Dreamcatchers, the event-management firm organising the beauty pageant, said.

The participants, who were selected after auditions of 1,500 transwomen, have gone through a rigorous training by several grooming experts who have earlier been a part of many beauty pageants.

The winner will be crowned by Miss Transsexual Australia International 2017 Laetica Phylliscia Raveena.
Talking about the need of a platform for the transgender community in India, educator and grooming expert Avleen Khokhar said that opportunities like this empower the third gender.
"Transgender community in India are being denied education and jobs due to persistent discrimination. A platform like this is needed to give the third gender an opportunity to embrace and empower themselves," Khokhar said.