Trans advocates criticize beauty pageant for offering gender reassignment surgery

A transgender beauty pageant in the UK is under fire from trans activists after offering the winner an all-expense-paid gender reassignment surgery in India.

The Miss Transgender United pageant, hosted by former boxer promoter Kellie Maloney, is set to take place September 27. The winner will walk away with €5000, which is more than $5,600, and a voucher for an all-inclusive trip to a surgical clinic in India, where they will undergo free gender reassignment surgery.

The competition states: “The winner will be awarded a voucher for full gender correction surgery at the Transgender Surgery Institute, New Delhi, India inclusive of all hospital travel and accommodation costs worth over €10,000. The voucher will be valid until 31 March 2016.”

If the winner has already undergone surgery, then they can opt to have other treatments at the discretion of Dr. Narendra Kaushik. This could be body sculpting, breast augmentation, etc..

The prize isn’t sitting well among trans activists. Jess Bradley of Action for Trans Health responded saying that it “seemed to be the prettiest, the whitest, the most middle class people” who were achieving their goals the quickest.

“We set up Action for Trans Health to do things differently,” wrote Jess. “We believe that access to hormones, surgeries and other transition related treatments are basic, necessary, and life-saving. They are not prizes akin to a cruise or an open-top car. Making them prizes just makes our basic healthcare needs seem like luxuries: cosmetic and elective.”

The pageant organizers stand by the prize, saying that it gives those without opportunity the means to acquire the surgery.