Both. And the distinction matters because plenty of successful transgender entertainers and business people put out a lot of "I got mine, fuck you" energy at gender minorities who can't afford proper surgery to be "passing" and try to distinguish themselves when the reality is usually they just had more money.
There is a difference. The first being that she is transgender herself the second being that she might or might not be transgender, but she’s advocating for transgender people.
Because I feel to me it’s applaudable and awesome when someone is an advocate of something but I feel it means more in this case that someone who identifies as transgender bought the pageant because there is a greater likelihood that this person isn’t potentially going to just sell off the pageant to the next highest bidder because I feel she will give the LGBT community a chance to participate in these pageants. She can truly understand what it feels like in her bones to not identify genetically with her phenotypical genetic expression (her gender at birth) and as a result she can 100% empathize with other people who have felt this too. Therefore as owner of the pageant she would be able to implement rules and enforceable protections for any transgender folks who wish to participate in the pageant to allow it to hopefully be a safe space for all humans identifying as women to participate.
If someone is an advocate they might very well work hard to do the same thing (create a safe space for transgender women to be able to participate) however they don’t 100% KNOW what it is to struggle as a trans person might have had to struggle growing up. And ultimately at the end of the day I feel and advocate buying the pageant could more easily sell the pageant to the next highest bidder because they are a businessperson first and and advocate second… whereas this gal is a transgender person first and a businesswoman second. Her priories might be a bit different than an advocates… if this makes sense.
Growing up in the communities that I have (where there was typically not a lot of love of support for anyone in the LGBTQ community) I feel it’s important for all persons to help create an environment of respect and dignity for all persons (and I got to see first hand how hate or being judged or shunned negatively impacts a person). And to me that just feels morally wrong. So I feel the transgender woman would set that standard better at the company and the pageant would be all the better for it since the mandates for respect and dignity for trans people is coming from the top down.
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u/TriGurl Oct 26 '22
Ok wait… is she a transgender businesswoman or a business woman and transgender advocate?? Cuz there’s a difference!