Southern California transgender residents to compete in all-trans beauty pageant

As a transgender Latina, Khloe Rios-Wyatt has been fighting for her community by providing what she calls “life-saving resources” to trans and gender-nonconforming communities in Orange County.

Starting Sunday, Dec. 8, she’ll be taking center stage as one of 26 contestants at the first U.S. edition of the all-trans Miss International Queen USA beauty pageant.

This inaugural U.S. pageant is the first-of-its-kind, with trans women vying in Las Vegas for $10,000 — and the opportunity to compete with full financial support for the 2025 Miss International Queen title, an international trans pageant in Thailand .

“This pageant platform is more than just beauty,” said Rios-Wyatt, a 35-year-old Rancho Cucamonga resident. “It’s about empowering community members and creating visibility for the trans community. It’s also part of the culture of the LGBTQ community.”

Rios-Wyatt, who is competing for the first time in the U.S., is the co-founder and CEO of the Santa Ana-based nonprofit group Alianza Translatinx. From its humble beginnings in 2020 passing out food to Latinx trans people during the pandemic, the organization has grown to offer housing support, mental health services, food, emergency relief and a community space in Santa Ana.

Until a few years ago, trans people have largely been excluded from mainstream pageants such as Miss Universe and others.

However, many other aspects of LGBTQ+ culture, like ballroom culture and drag shows have elements of pageantry such as talent, dancing, elegant looks and community service. Drag pageantry is another form of LGBTQ+ participation in pageant culture.

Miss Universe had its first two trans competitors internationally in 2018 and in the United States in 2023. In 2022, trans businesswoman and activist Chakrapong “Anne” Chakrajutathib bought Miss Universe. The following year, the pageant changed its guidelines to be more inclusive of ages, marital status, body shapes and more, which sparked backlash from traditional pageant participants and others upset that trans women were allowed to compete. 

Miss International Queen, a trans pageant, has been around since 2004 showcasing trans women from around the world in hopes of promoting greater acceptance for trans women, raising awareness of trans rights globally, and collecting money for charity, said Todd Montgomery, national director for Miss International Queen USA.

For the pageant’s U.S. preliminary, for which competition gets underway Tuesday, Dec. 10, through Thursday, Dec. 12, all proceeds will go to an LGBTQ+ nonprofit group Be the Transformational Change Fund. The fund, which is putting on the U.S. pageant, aims to create better futures for trans people, Montgomery said. The organization works to remove barriers to employment and housing, and address social injustices LGBTQ+ people face.

Alianza is the only trans-led nonprofit group working with trans people in Santa Ana and Orange County, Rios-Wyatt said.

She hopes that participating in the pageant will foster greater trans visibility, more support for her organization and fight what she calls anti-trans rhetoric and promises by President-elect Donald Trump to limit transgender rights.

Because of Trump’s return, Rios-Wyatt said championing trans rights amid political backlash encapsulates the pageant’s theme of “The Future Starts Now.”

“The Miss International Queen USA pageant is a unique opportunity to shine a light on the challenges we face and the strength of our community,” Rios-Wyatt said. “It’s about highlighting our fight for equality, amplifying our voices and building the support that’s necessary to secure our future. We cannot afford to wait for change — we must create it now.”

It will be important in coming years to elevate the voices of trans people and continue to create affirmative spaces for them, regardless of threats to erase or eliminate trans existence, Rios-Wyatt said.

As an immigrant who came to the U.S. 20 years ago and, until recently, was an undocumented resident, she feels compelled to show that immigrants contribute much to the county and are a vital force in it.

Five of the 26 contestants are from California, with three, including Rios-Wyatt, living in Southern California.

Another local pageant participant, Bella Snow, who lives in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles, wants to represent trans Vietnamese immigrants and show them that they can do anything she can do.

For Snow, this is important because she didn’t transition until her late 20s.

“Growing up, I didn’t know who I was because I had no representation until the past five or six years,” the 35-year-old Snow said. “That was amazing to me. I wish back then I had somebody that represented me.”

She feels motivated to give back to her LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities and to be that representation for future generations especially given the privileges she has as a U.S. citizen.

“Because I live in the U.S. and had all the opportunity to have my name changed, my gender marker changed, and to get married, I want to bring that back to my home country of Vietnam, which still has nothing legalized,” Snow said. “Equality is non-existent there so I want to be that light to say ‘transgender (people) can have it all, trans girls can be married, can be in love.’”

Each time she goes back to Vietnam, Snow said her heart breaks to see fellow Vietnamese trans people lacking the same opportunities she has had.

“We’re all human, we all deserve something to live for,” she said.

Snow, who works in modeling and fashion, was recently the first transgender Vietnamese American representative for Sephora in the past 10 years of campaigns, she said.

Some of the gowns she’ll be using in the pageant were designed by her and are inspired by her cultural identity as a Vietnamese American. A traditional Vietnamese ao dai, a long tunic-like garment, inspired one of her main pageant costumes.

“I want to be the bridge that reaches two different countries, East and West, because right now unity is the most important thing and I believe I’m the perfect bridge for that,” Snow said.

The competition’s final night will be livestreamed Thursday, Dec. 12, at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for virtual viewing can be purchased for $24.99 at BetheTransformationalChange.org/miq-usa-tickets.