Can Miss SA be an ex-Mr?
2008-08-18 09:32
Johannesburg - The organisers of the annual Miss South Africa pageant have been in crisis the past week, after a woman who had had a sex-change operation wanted to enrol in a workshop for prospective participants, and encountered a very chilly welcome.
The identity of the woman, who used to be a man, was not revealed by Sun International, which owns the pageant.
It must still be decided whether the woman may participate in the contest.
The woman, whose age is also unknown, was apparently furious at the workshop in Johannesburg last week and threatened to take legal steps against the organisers.
Sue Klerck, the marketing manager of the pageant, confirmed the incident on Sunday, but could not give further information.
Natural born women
Laurie Botha, an expert in beauty pageants and the owner of an agency that scouts for prospective participants for the contest, said that the local rules of the contest had to be considered first.
The rules "say nothing specifically about the participation of transgender people.
"But the international competition rules can be used as a yardstick because the local winner will have to be sent to big competitions like Miss World later on."
Klerck said they have been using international rules as a yardstick for years, and these specifically dictate that participants have to be natural born women.