Transgender beauty contest fined for lack of license

The 2023 Miss International Queen Vietnam, founded by Miss International Queen winner Nguyen Huong Giang, admitted it hosted without permissions from authorities.

Nguyen Huong Giang, 32, founder of the Miss International Queen Vietnam. Photo by Milor Tran

On Thursday, a contest organizer said that after working with the HCMC Department of Culture and Sports, they were aware of their violations in hosting the pageant, and Huong Giang had paid the fine.

"After this case, we have gained more experience in order to better prepare for other contests in the future," the contest's spokesperson said.

"In the upcoming years, we will bring the contest back and aim to spread meaningful values to the community through it. For future events to be better organized, we need detailed instructions from the authorities."

On April 13, Nguyen My Hanh, deputy chief of staff of the HCMC Department of Culture and Sports, said the department was informed about an ongoing beauty contest being hosted without permission at a studio in District 12.

Inspectors from the department then arrived at the filming location and investigated.

According to Hanh, the pageant organizer, Huong Giang’s company, was requested to cancel the non-licensed event, which they ignored.

Authorities then gave Huong Giang’s company a violation record for violating the law, stipulating penalties for administrative violations in culture and advertising.

The 2023 Miss International Queen Vietnam was organized by Huong Giang’s company at the start of this year with seven episodes in the format of a reality TV show, and broadcast on YouTube.

This year's contest's theme was "Brave Purple - The Color of Bravery," which aims to promote bravery among transgender contestants.

In February, Giang planned to hold an event to announce the top 20 contestants, but it was canceled.

According to the Department of Information and Communications of HCMC, the organizer has applied for a license to hold the event, but the department found that they didn’t submit enough documents.

This is the third edition of Miss International Queen Vietnam, which was founded in 2018.

This year’s winner, 23-year-old Nguyen Ha Diu Thao, will compete at a Miss International Queen pageant in Thailand in June.