A transgender woman says she wants to shine a light on the plight of the LGBT+ community who are being murdered and tortured for just being themselves.
Nazhene Engelbrecht from Ceres is creating a platform through her pageant to educate and establish awareness regarding the lifestyle of gay people.
Nazhene said this was inspired by her friend David Olyn, who in 2014 was brutally murdered and tortured because of his sexual orientation, and more recently, the murder of Cheslyn September from Delft who was shot in the head last week, allegedly for being homosexual.
“I want people to know that we are just a human as everybody else, we are also someone’s brother, sister, a mother’s child.”
Nazhene says it’s time for members of his community to completely step out of the closet.
“I started hosting pageants in 2014 because I believe we need to be visible and we need to get people together and educate them regarding matters that are very dear and close to the LGBTQIA+ community.
“I am a strong believer that we as a community need to be visible because for so long we have been programmed by society that we are not valued, we should not be seen or heard.
“That in itself has a ripple effect as that directly is a link to why so many gay people are having mental issues, because of how we need to suppress our emotions and personalities.”
The pageant titled Miss Gay Awareness will take place on Saturday at Wolseley Community Hall in Wolseley and tickets are R100 including snacks and wine.
The crowning will be done by the current Miss Sovereign Western Cape, Rubee-Lee Lukas.
For any information regarding the pageant email [email protected]