Miss Universe's first openly gay contestant strutted down the runway on Sunday night despite coming from a country where homosexuality is criminalized. Miss Myanmar representative Swe Zin Htet may not have been crowned the title but the year-old still made history for the long-running beauty pageant. After Miss South Africa won the competition, Zin Htet apologized to fans on Facebook and Instagram for not making the top 20 by writing "sry The Miss Universe Organization also championed Zin Htet for being "brave enough" to share her story in a statement published shortly after the competition. In its 67 years, not one Miss Universe contestant has been openly gay until Zin Htet publically came out just before the competition in Atlanta, Georgia.
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India's top court decriminalizes gay sex
The Miss Universe beauty pageant has featured an openly gay contestant for the first time -- and she hails from a country where homosexuality is criminalized. Though she failed to advance to the top 20, fans say she has already made history by representing the LGBTQ community on a global stage. Htet, also known to fans as "Superman," reportedly came out as gay in an interview posted on a pageant forum, Missosology, shortly after she arrived in Atlanta for the competition. The following day, she posted a photo collage on Instagram that was overlaid with a rainbow flag and the word "Proud. Her coming out is all the more striking given that a colonial-era section of Myanmar's penal code allows courts to punish gay sex with long prison sentences. Photograph of Miss India finalists stirs debate over country's obsession with fair skin.
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Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender LGBT rights in Myanmar are subject to official persecution and discrimination, with LGBT people facing legal and social challenges not experienced by others. Same-sex sexual activity is illegal and section of Myanmar 's Penal Code subjects same-sex sexual acts regardless of whether they were consensual or done in private to a term of imprisonment from ten years to life. Transgender people are subject to police harassment and sexual assault, and their gender identity is not recognised by the state. During the country's long military dictatorship under the authoritarian State Peace and Development Council , it was difficult to obtain accurate information about the legal or social status of LGBT Burmese citizens.
It many ways Myanmar seems poised to become the latest country to overturn its British colonial-era anti-gay sex law, which criminalizes homosexuality with up to 10 years in prison. If it did, it would be following in the paths of India , Trinidad and Tobago , and Belize , all of which have repealed their anti-sodomy laws in recent years. Singapore might also be on the precipice of doing away with its anti-gay sex law, as its high court is hearing legal challenges to it this week. Yet Myanmar remains one of the more than 70 countries where homosexuality is illegal, and there appears to be little movement from the government to address the problem. Included in the report is the story of a gay man named Khin Maung Htun recounts being arrested when he was standing near a fight and police arrived on the scene. LGBTQ advocates in Malaysia are also pushing for their country to do away with its anti-sodomy law, which punishes gay sex with imprisonment and caning. Campaigners in both Malaysia and Myanmar are watching the situation in Singapore closely, hopeful it could spur change in their countries as well.
