Miss Trans Albania/ the Beauty Pageant which is raising voice for the Trans Community

Another successful editon of the beauty pageant “Miss Trans Albania” took place last Saturday in Albania. This event was organized by one of the two main LGBT+ organizations: “Alliance LGBT” and “Streha LGBT”, the only shelter for the LGBT+ community in Albania. The two organizations joined their forced to organize one of the most exciting nights in Tirana. According to the LGBT+ activists, this activity aims to bring more visibility to the marginalized community of transgender people in Albania, whom rarely go out in public for their rights due to social stigma.

This edition gathered up 10 transgirls who catwalked three times. The beauty contest was intertwined with a lot of energetic performances. The finalists who managed to make it ‘till the end were: Ami, Roksana, Megi, Fiona, Luana and Ishtar. The decision was given from the lovely jury of the night.

More than entertaining, the night was filled with messages aimed at lobbying for a more acceptable society for the trans rights. Eventhough this is the 5h edition of “Miss Trans Albania”, the institutional support remains very low. Also, the legislation has not advanced at all when it comes to the trans rights.

As in every beauty pageant, the winner was announced at the end of the event. Ishtar was the crowned queen of the night who stood out not merely for her beauty, but also for her distinctive self-esteem.

What differed this edition from the previous editions was the media visibility, which was more present this time and the transgirls gave their consent to be photographed during the night.

Miss Trans Albania is an activity organised on behalf of PRIDE Albania project. PRIDE project is implemented from IREX Europe in collaboration with “Alliance LGBT+” and “Pro-LGBT”, financially supported by European Union.