contestant – The Philadelphia Observer http://philadelphiaobserver.com Just another WordPress site Fri, 13 Dec 2019 14:12:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 Miss Universe celebrates its first openly gay contestant http://philadelphiaobserver.com/miss-universe-celebrates-its-first-openly-gay-contestant/ Fri, 13 Dec 2019 13:58:26 +0000 http://philadelphiaobserver.com/?p=342

 

 
The Miss Universe beauty pageant has featured an openly gay contestant for the first time — and she hails from a country where homosexuality is criminalized.
 
Twenty-year-old Swe Zin Htet competed as Miss Myanmar at the event on Sunday night in Atlanta, Georgia. Though she failed to advance to the top 20, fans say she has already made history by representing the LGBTQ community on a global stage.
 
 
 
 
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Htet, also known to fans as “Superman,” reportedly came out as gay in an interview posted on a pageant forum, Missosology, shortly after she arrived in Atlanta for the competition.
 
“I want the world to accept the LGBTQ+ community and their right to choose their own path and pursuit of happiness,” she is quoted as saying. “We should always have the freedom of choice and promote equality.”
 
The following day, she posted a photo collage on Instagram that was overlaid with a rainbow flag and the word “Proud.”
 
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