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\u201cIf you want to participate just do it, sign up,\u201d Cuaya-Mu\u00f1oz said. \u201cIt’s definitely an experience especially if you have a message to share. In the Spanish-speaking community, we already have a lot of labels that we have to navigate and just being able to embrace who we are allows us to feel free.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elly Maldonado, the winner of the Miss TG category, participated to send a message and continue the fight for equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis contest is the perfect place to educate, not only cisgender people, but the whole community. We as a community are not exempt from not having proper education,\u201d Maldonado said in Spanish. \u201cThere is a lot of information on social media, but sometimes it\u2019s not correct.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEste concurso es perfecto para poder educarnos no solo a las personas de cisgenero si no tambi\u00e9n a nuestra comunidad. Nosotros como comunidad no estamos exempto a no tener buena educaci\u00f3n,\u201d Maldonado dijo. \u201cHay mucha informaci\u00f3n en las redes, pero a veces no est\u00e1 correcta\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maldonado is a 43-year-old transgender woman who came from Mexico to the United States at 26 years old. She began her transition at age 14 and said discrimination has and continues no matter where you are in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen you go to apply for a job, they see me as a transgender woman and then they see I\u2019m a Latina and also I don\u2019t speak English very well. So it\u2019s like three times harder, but that\u2019s something that I and many others are used to and it\u2019s sad. And we continue to fight and bring awareness,\u201d Maldonado said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCuando vas a aplicar por un trabajo, te ven como mujer transgenero y luego te ven que eres Latina, okay y no hablas bien el Ingl\u00e9s. Entonces es como que tres veces m\u00e1s dif\u00edcil para nosotras. Pues eso es lo que estamos acostumbrados entonces seguimos luchando,\u201d Maldonado dijo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For her, it’s always been a struggle as she didn\u2019t get any support from her family growing up. For Maldonado, it\u2019s her passion to speak about and inform others about feeling included in society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Karla James, the winner for Miss category, shares a similar sentiment and although she had support from her mother, she has experienced the struggle of friends and others who did not support her. And she too faces discrimination every day and wants people to be informed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople always judge just on what they see but they never talk or get to know that person and I think each of us who participated left a beautiful message that touches people\u2019s hearts,\u201d James said. \u201cI think if every person makes a difference then everything will be better in the community.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Maldonado believes the pageant is far beyond a crown and wearing beautiful outfits. Although it is the theme, she encourages future participants to contribute to society by sending viewers a message that will leave a mark on them forever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBe prepared to leave a message to the community,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about sequins or feathers or looking good and carrying a crown, that\u2019s beautiful, fun and encouraging but that\u2019s not the principal reason.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVayan preparados para dejar un tema que deje un mensaje a la comunidad, no solo se trata de lentejuelas o plumas este evento se trata m\u00e1s que nada de aportar algo a la comunidad, no solo de verse bonita y portar una corona en el desfile eso es bonito y te motiva mucho pero no el la principal raz\u00f3n.\u201d Maldonado dijo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cuaya-Mu\u00f1oz said there is still much work to do even within San Francisco, let alone throughout the Bay Area and beyond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs somebody who experienced, firsthand, hate crime in San Francisco, there\u2019s lots of work to do,\u201d they said. \u201cIt\u2019s not only up to us but also our heterosexual cisgender accomplices to also step in and protect us just as much as we protect them. We talk about police brutality, immigration, gun violence, we are out in the streets demanding and fighting for the rights of everybody, not just for LGBTQ folks, but for everyone else and it\u2019s a call out to do the same for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n On June 20, the yearly Miss and Mr. Safe Latino pageant took place for the first time entirely in Spanish, with the goal to continue to inform and celebrate the LGBTQ+ Latinx community. In tradition, contestants competed to win a spot in three categories; Mr., Miss and Miss Transgender (TG). The goal of the pageant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":56984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[24079,16780,24075,10927],"coauthors":[23942],"class_list":["post-56981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-hiv-awareness","tag-miss-and-mr-safe-latino","tag-pageant","tag-pride","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/MissMrLatine-055_web.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&quality=89&ssl=1\")
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