Meet Miss Universe’s First Out Gay Contestant: Swe Zin Htet
Our hearts will be aglow with rainbows and joy when Swe Zin Htet takes the stage tonight as the reigning Miss Myanmar in the Miss Universe competition.
Just a few days ago, 21-year-old Swe came out as a lesbian and became the first out Miss Universe contestant in history.
In her home country of Burma, being LGBTQ is still a crime. Now, Swe is using her voice to help others who feel fear or shame to come out.
“I have that platform that, if I say that I’m a lesbian, it will have a big impact on the LGBTQ community back in Burma,” she said through a translator via People magazine in Atlanta, where Miss Universe is being filmed tonight in the Tyler Perry Studios.
“The difficult thing is that in Burma, LGBTQ people are not accepted,” she said, “they are looked down on by other people and are being discriminated against.”
It’s no wonder Swe’s fans call her “Superman.” When she came out on the beauty blog Missology, the beauty queen opened up a lot about her past.
Swe first started to realize her sexuality around “15 or 16.” However, accepting it was “kind of difficult, but after a period of time I felt I was a lesbian and kind of accepted it.”
Furthermore, she only came out to her parents five years ago: “At first, they were mad. They didn’t accept me,” she said to People. “But later, when they found out more about the LGBTQ community, they started to accept me.”
What an amazing story, right? We can’t wait to see Swe strut her stuff and represent the LGBTQ community.
Miss Universe 2019 will be broadcast live to the East Coast on FOX at 7 p.m. ET and will be tape delayed to the West Coast, so check your local listings!
Read the rest of the interview at People.