What measure is woman? Beauty? Ability? Grace? Talent? Being born with a penis or without? That's the question that the World's Most Beautiful Transsexual Pageant will attempt to answer, as it takes over the Riviera Convention Center Friday and Saturday. The winner will get $5,000 and a cruise for two. As well, the entrants will be scouted for an upcoming transsexual act at the Riv. Acting as emcee is Jahna Steele, once voted sexiest showgirl on the Strip while with the Crazy Girls troupe, then outed as a transsexual.
What sort of things will be required of the ladies in the show?
The girls, they all have to be pre- or post-operatively transsexual, meaning they have to live full time as women, and be going through the change or have gone through it, which most of them have. Secondly, there'll be evening gown, swimsuit and question-and-answer, and then they'll choose the top 12, who will then go through those three categories, plus talent. It's going to be held over a three-day period [preliminary eliminations are Thursday] in the big convention center at the Riviera, which is going to be transformed into this giant powder puff for the evening, and then there'll be a club called Club Glam, which is open next to it, so that everyone can not only meet the contestants but dance.
What sort of talents?
Anything from singing, dancing to comedy, that we've got so far. I'm just hosting it; I'm past my prime. I would not want to enter it. I'm in the botox years. But some of these girls are absolutely breathtaking. I was completely unaware of what beauty is because I'd taken such a long time off from entertaining, and it blew me away how beautiful some of these girls are.
What have you been doing in your time off?
I went back to school and learned how to do things other than entertaining so that I'd have something to fall back on. I studied computer courses, then I worked for United Blood Services for awhile, and I worked for a woman's heath facility, which was very rewarding to me for a lot of years. I got certified in nonprofit management. I learned all these things, but what I really learned is that really all I want to do is entertain.
That's quite the shift, to go from being in the spotlight to behind the scenes.
Yeah, I was miserable. [laughs] You're totally right. I enjoy helping people, and that being my number-one passion is what I would like to do, and what I hope that this contest opens up, is that people who are transsexual will have a place to showcase their talent in a way that they're not judged and mocked like so many of the television shows portray transsexuality as. And that's only because of years of noneducation, and because they usually lump transvestites and drag queens with transsexuals, and it's two opposite things. One's gender identity and one's sexual preference. The differences are vast, and I don't believe that in a short article I could even begin to cram this down some people's throats what is and what isn't, because I still get questioned all the time: "So, does that mean you're a girl?" And it's like, "Well, last time I looked, for the past 25 years."
What do you think of those shows like Maury, where they bring out guests and have the audience guess whether they're a man or woman?
In the beginning, when I first did the Maury Povich show in '92, I believe it was, or in '93, it was much more based on education and kindness. Now it's about exploitation and freakism, and like, "We fooled you. Hardy-har-har. This is a man." Which is just so insulting to somebody who's lived such a distressful life, because it's not easy growing up with a gender-identity disorder. And ones that have, and then put themselves up for that kind of mockery are, in my opinion, only because of esteem issues and because they have nowhere else to go. If people come to this show, I think that they'll be a bit blown away.
At one point, you were the most celebrated showgirl in Las Vegas and then your "secret" was unveiled.
Right, on A Current Affair.
What happened at that point?
Life turned upside down. And for me, it was a lot of fear, fear of the unknown. It's like, "Oh my gosh, now what's going to happen? Am I going to be murdered out in the middle of the street?"
Did you have threats leveled against you?
No, actually I didn't. It was a positive experience across the board for me. The not-positive experience was that I left the Riviera and I left working for Norbert Aleman for a lot of years. I've had a lot of wonderful things happen, but under his guidance, I seem to have always done best. And many years later, here I am again, back at the Riv.