Thai 'ladyboy' beauty contest cancelled amid protests

Updated December 5, 2008 20:29:24

Even before last week's protests shut Thailand's main international airport, the ongoing political crisis had led to a dramatic fall in tourist numbers. It's forced the cancellation of several high-profile - including an annual beauty contest for transgendered people, who had been hoping to compete for the title of Miss International Queen.

Presenter: Jay Lamey
Speakers: Alisa Phantusak, Miss Tiffany organiser; Anne, former contestant of Miss Tiffany Universe

JAY LAMEY: It's become one of the biggest events on the pageant calendar, attracting a huge crowd and broadcast live on television. Miss International Queen is like most other beauty contests, with lots of ballgowns, make-up and big hair dos. The only difference here is that to compete you have to have been born a man.

CONTESTANT: Yes, it's so fun. Have many, many, many lady boys come to compete here and everybody is beautiful.

JAY LAMEY: One of last year's contestants was Kun An who works at a long-running Bangkok cabaret where all performers are katoeys, as transgendered people are known in Thailand. An says the contest gives katoeys a valuable opportunity to appear in public in a positive way.

KUN AN: The judges ask questions that allow us to really express ourselves. It's an arena where we can act and say and do whatever we feel like. And it shows the press and the government that katoeys can be good so they won't just look at us in a negative way.

JAY LAMEY: But this year there won't be a Miss International Queen. With violent scenes of protests beaming around the world many would-be competitors decided against coming to Thailand, citing security concerns. And with no end in sight to Thailand's political strife, the event's now been cancelled. The woman who made the decision to pull the plug was Alisa Phanthusak, who also runs the local Ms Tiffany Universe pageant and Tiffany's Cabaret show from which the international contest evolved.

ALISA PHANTHUSAK: People have less interest to come to join the Miss International Queen because of political chaos.

JAY LAMEY: Ms Phanthusak says the cancellation of the show was a huge disappointment to all the contestants, especially those coming from abroad who had been looking forward to a full week of activities in Thailand, a country renowned for its tolerance of the katoey community.

ALISA PHANTHUSAK: Somehow in other countries, some country, they have been under pressure, they have to lie, they have to hide and they have to, you know, cannot be themselves. So this is a way to make them feel that they are at home at Tiffany's and to be able to present themselves as what they are.

JAY LAMEY: In addition to being in charge of Ms Tiffany, your family also owns one of the biggest hotels in Thailand, so have you noticed a big drop in business since the political crisis started?

ALISA PHANTHUSAK: Yeah, a really big drop. Before they close Suvarnabhumi actually we had a meeting - the booking in Pattaya actually is only 30% which is really unusual because from actually from now we can see that over booking each year we have to arrange the booking somewhere else. So from 30% I think it could drop to 10%.

JAY LAMEY: And what would that mean for all the people who work in the tourism industry, especially in Pattaya?

ALISA PHANTHUSAK: I think that now all the people who is a hotelier and management are thinking of how to cut the cost and before we were trying to find a way to keep all the employee, all the people who works in the hotel and hope the situation would get better but now many hotel is trying to cut down the number of staff.

JAY LAMEY: Ms Phanthusak says she is planning to hold Ms International Queen again next year. An, a katoey who's taken part before, says she hopes to get another chance.

KUN AN: I really wanted to keep going, she says, because it helps people be more accepting of katoeys and it's the only stage we have to compete on.