(TheRedWire.com) – The Miss Universe competition, which is scheduled for next month in El Salvador, will now include two transgender competitions as the winner of the title of Miss Portugal was recently announced to be Marina Machete, a flight attendant.
In a post on Instagram, Machete wrote before the Miss Portugal competition that she was proud to be the first trans woman to compete for the title. The 28-year-old added that she was not eligible for many years to join the competition but that it was an honor to compete against this incredible group of candidates.
In July, Rikkie Valerie Kollé won the title in the Netherlands, meaning that Machete will have to compete against another transgender woman next month.
In celebration of her victory, Machete shared in a different post that she was counting down the days for the Miss Universe competition in El Salvador.
These recent victories came when many questioned whether allowing biological men to infringe on women’s spaces was good. This issue became even more prevalent following Kollé’s success.
In response, Kollé told Newsweek that people viewed them as “monsters” and that she was getting messages daily wishing she would die or commit suicide. She added that while these were terrible things to read, she was happy to be lifted and have created this big platform. She said that competing allows her to represent the LGBTQ+ community, which she was hoping to make proud.
Copyright 2023, TheRedWire.com
