A transwoman from Philippines, Fuschia Anne Ravena, has been crowned the new Miss International Queen 2022. The 27-year-old beauty queen was declared the winner of the contest organized in the Thai city of Pattaya on June 25.
Fuschia Anne Ravena, who hails from Cebu city, is the third Filipina to win the pageant. Before her, Kevin Balot won in 2012 and Tixia Maristela took the crown in 2015.
Miss International Queen is the world's largest beauty pageant for transgender women, launched in 2004. Due to the pandemic, the event had to be cancelled in 2021. This year it made a comeback with the theme, "Pride Together."
Ravena won hearts of the judges in the question-answer segment when she described the goal of being a transgender beauty queen in the present times. She said that apart from being knowledgeable, one has to have a heart "full of love and respect" accompanied with a ready to listen attitude and helpful nature.
"I always think that the most beautiful asset of being a human and being a transwoman is not just a head full of knowledge. It should be the heart full of love and respect, and ear that is ready to listen and a hand that is willing to help other people," she said on stage.
The Filipina beauty bested 22 contestants, including Colombia's Jasmine Jimenez, who was the second runner-up and France's Aëla Chanel, the third-runner up, as per CNN Philippines.
Elaborating on her trans journey, Ravena was seen talking about her difficult gender transition, which took her five years, in a video shown before the show.
"The acceptance in my own home is the best gift I've received throughout my trans journey," she added and later dedicated the win to her mother.
The 27-year-old is also an entrepreneur and owns a poultry business. She was awarded a cash prize of $12,700 including other gifts from several sponsors.
Referring to the present state of the transgender community she stated that the fight for equality is not over yet. Ravena emphasized that she will take advantage of the opportunity received through the pageant and will attempt to make as big of a difference as she can in the society.
