In a suburban garage, four glamorous women dance for the camera against a sparkling silver backdrop.
I Am What I Am, a song made famous by Gloria Gaynor during the 1980s, blasts from the speakers:
‘‘I am what I am, I don’t want praise I don’t want pity, I bang my own drum, some think it’s noise I think it’s pretty, and so what if I love each sparkle and each bangle, why not try to see things from a different angle...’’
It’s a fitting anthem for four transsexuals and a drag queen.
And this week, Doncaster will get to join the chorus at the Ms Gay and Ms Transsexual Australia Beauty Pageant held at the Shoppingtown Hotel.
Pageants like these are usually held in the inner city areas of Melbourne, so why move the event to Doncaster?
It’s simple, says organiser Gayzha Davao, a gay man who works as a drag queen.
‘‘We want to show people that transsexuals are just like everyone else, we want to change people’s perception of them,’’ he says.
‘‘What we want to do,’’ adds fellow organiser Norbert Neugebauer, ‘‘is to let people know that transsexuals can be more than hookers.’’
To promote the night, Davao and Neugebauer have been busy handing out flyers at Doncaster Shoppingtown.
So how have the residents reacted?
‘‘We got a few negative comments, but there was a lot of positivity,’’ Davao says.
‘‘We want everyone to come and see what these girls can do. We want to bring to the public what being a transsexual is all about, because these girls are just normal girls with normal lives, and many of them have normal working lives.’’
Founded in 2009, and held during Midsumma festival, Davao says it’s the first pageant in Australia to accept entries from all backgrounds and ethnicities.
‘‘There are a lot of Asian pageants around, I’m from the Philippines myself, but this is the first one to invite everyone to compete. It provides the girls with an opportunity to showcase who they are, we know about gays, we know about drag queens, but what about trannies?’’ she says.
It’s an opportunity the contestants welcome. Being a transsexual is not easy, even in a relatively accepting society such as Australia, says pageant contestant Vanessa Roberts, a stunning blonde.
When she was 22, Roberts was eliminated from a reality television show for being a transsexual. But having experienced discrimination since she became transsexual at the age of 14, she took it in her stride.
‘‘The rule was, you had to be a woman. When I was disqualified from the show, I realised I’m just me. I’m not a man, I’m not a woman, because I can’t even begin to understand what a woman feels like. I don’t put a label on it.’’
But being a transsexual in conservative areas of South East Asia can be even more difficult, as Diddy Hikaru can attest to.
Hikaru, from Indonesia, iskeen to share her story. The 36-year-old’s arms are muscular and covered in tattoos and she is more reserved than her fellow pageant contestants.
‘‘I’ve been in Australia for one year and four months. The community in my home town was very conservative, so I had to stay inside the closet because I did not want to hurt people I love, like my parents,’’ Hikaru says.
But since moving to Australia, Hikaru has lead a more independent lifestyle.
‘‘I’m happy how I am now, I can run my own life,’’ Hikaru says
‘‘If I can stay here for rest of my life and find a man who loves me, I would love that man for rest of my life.’’
So who will take out the pageant on Friday night?
‘‘Everyone is so beautiful, it’s hard to tell,’’ Hikaru says.
Ms Gay and Ms TS Australia 2012 will be held on Friday, February 3, from 7pm at the Shoppingtown Hotel, Doncaster. Click here for more information.
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