MANAGUA, Niragua (AP) — Carlos Castro hugged his mother and wept after the announcer named him Miss Gay Niragua 2014. It was the culmatn of a lot of work by the 19-year-old agronomy stunt and the begng of a lot more. Castro, known as Amerika Ithzell Korkobas Berdradxy, will now vis several provc the Central Amerin natn the role of Miss Gay Niragua seekg to raise awarens about sexual diversy and genr inty and to help fight discrimatn. "I'm happy, ecstatic, satisfied bee the work was not easy. There were months of twalk, makp that helped me and other bety queens to prepare," said Castro, who won the ntt a shy purple gown rated wh beads and rhton. "I thk the judg liked my charisma and my huy and that I'm crazy on the nway." Dozens of nttants parad down the stage of a hotel dorium Managua last week wearg exuberant tradnal drs, eveng gowns embellished wh sequ and feathers and swimsus as they peted the bety pageant. Castro, who reprented the provce of Leon, received a tiara valued at $2,000, a sh prize of $5,000 and the opportuny to travel to Thailand as Niragua's reprentative Miss Queen Internatnal. For six months prr to the pageant, nttants attend workshops about sexual diversy and HIV. They also vised people livg wh HIV, and helped young victims of discrimatn by buyg them food and rgated metal sheets to strengthen their hom. "The event is important to raise awarens society, for people who are sexually diverse to be uned and for the girls to start enrichg their genr inty," said Miss Gay Niragua's anizer, Jul Sanchez. "It's also a way to fight agast homophobia."
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AP PHOTOS: MISS GAY NIRAGUA TO FIGHT HOMOPHOBIA
STORY: The Netherlands ma history by emergg victor over 22 nttants, claimg the crown for the first time. Followg closely behd, Sgapore and the Uned Stat secure send and third place rpectively the petn."Believe yourself orr to achieve everythg that you want bee you are the hero of your own story," said Dekker who wore the glisteng stage, Miss Internatnal Queen Philipp Lars Pache said the pageant was very meangful for her. "It serv as the bt platform for me to raise awarens, to raise my voice towards our battle for equaly," she add. Introduced 17 years ago wh the aim of fosterg acceptance of transgenr women society, the ntt un dividuals om across the globe who intify as transgenr.Thailand's reputatn as a liberal holiday statn for ternatnal tourists is further bolstered by s vibrant and proment lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) muni, solidifyg s posn as one of Asia's most welg and clive natns. * miss queen international gay *
Thailand has one of Asia's most open and visible lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) muni, addg to s image of tolerance and attractn as a liberal holiday statn for foreign activists say Thai laws and stutns have yet to reflect changg social attus and still discrimate agast LGBT+ people and same-sex upl. Who We Are Gay Internatnal is more than a crown, a medalln and a tle. Gay Internatnal Organizatn (GIO) is about tellg the stori of the LGBTQ+ people and muni and enuragg them to celebrate who and what they are, bee you n never be happy wh beg what you are not.
Kev Balot took home the crown bety queen, who also won the Philipp pageant Miss Gay Manila this year, graduated om the Universy of the Philipp wh a gree European languag, and also plays the vl.
08 / 29Thailand remas a largely nservative society, wh no laws regnizg same-sex unns though has a proment lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny.