Pride Month: Reina Filipinas pageant to welcome trans applicants

Another welcome development for the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and others) community this Pride Month is the Reina Filipinas pageants’ openness to transgender applicants.

The new national pageant organization has just released the eligibility requirements for its inaugural staging this year, and they have opened the door for transgender women to join the competition.

Reina Filipinas is headed by Filipino international shoe designer Jojo Bragais, with reigning Miss Grand International Emma Tiglao as national director. Nawat Itsaragrisil, the Thai owner of the Bangkok-based Miss Grand International pageant, will serve as executive partner of the national organization.

The national pageant is accepting transgender women to the competition, despite the Philippine government’s refusal to recognize their lived gender due to the absence of an enabling law, because it will also choose candidates for MGI All Stars, an international competition that allows trans participants.

Reina Filipinas’ main winner will be sent to the 2026 Miss Grand International pageant in India in October, but two more titleholders will be crowned as candidates for the second edition of MGI All Stars in December. Up to five entries per country are allowed in the contest.

Nawat himself attended the grand launch event of Reina Filipinas held in Pasay City on June 10, and he brought along with him Colombian beauty Vanessa Pugarin, winner of MGI All Stars’ first edition. 

Reina Filipinas has already made its call for applicants, and the eligibility requirements for Miss Grand International Philippines and MGI All Stars Philippines have been posted on social media.

To qualify for the Miss Grand International Philippines crown, an applicant must be a female Filipino citizen between 18 and 35 years old, must hold a valid Philippine pasport, and not shorter than 5-foot-4.

For those hoping to be sent to MGI All Stars, applicants must be a Filipino citizen between 20 and 40 years old, must hold a valid Philippine passport, at least 5-foot-4 tall, can be either a cisgender or a transgender woman, have previously competed in an international beauty pageant, but should not have won a major international crown. /ra