THIS year’s Adi Senikau pageant will have transgender participants from around the Pacific region.
Creative director of the Haus of Khameleon and co-ordinator of the Adi Senikau pageant Sulique Waqa said this year they had interests from the reigning Miss Transsexual NZ, Miss Transsexual Australia, reigning Miss Galaxy Tonga, a contestant from Solomon Islands, a contestant from Samoa and the rest from Fiji.
“Over the years I have opened up the Adi Senikau pageant to include transgender participants from around the Pacific,” she said.
“This is not about competition, but about intercultural exchanges and solidarity as well within the broader trans women’s movement in the Pacific.
“This is also in line with our plan to host the first-ever regional transgender pageant during the Miss South Pacific Pageant in Fiji next year.
“We will confirm the rest of the Pacific countries once we get a confirmation from the community and networks in those countries. So yeah, technically we have kind of crossed over from being a national to a regional pageant.”
Ms Waqa said she had been co-ordinating the Adi Senikau pageant for the past seven years.
“The show has evolved tremendously over the years since its inception,” she said.
“It has gone beyond from just being a show for entertainment to a pageant that uses the Adi Senikau as an important platform for the transgender community to lead their own activities and take ownership of their own narratives.
“It’s about reclaiming spaces and shifting conversations, most importantly it is about celebrating the transgender community as members of our community who contribute to the development of society.”
The Adi Senikau will be held on August 19 at the FMF Gymnasium.
