Rikkie Valerie Kollé was crowned Miss Netherlands on Sunday.
Rikkie Valerie Kollé was crowned the winner of the Miss Netherlands competition. PDO
Rikkie Valerie Kollé breaks prejudices and is the first transgender woman to win the Miss Netherlands pageant.
– I did it, Kollé wrote on Instagram.
Kollé talks about her gender on Instagram, noting that she “made her community proud and showed that winning is possible.”
The 22-year-old Kollé is now competing in the Miss Universe pageant, which will be held in El Salvador later this year.
Not the only transgender
The Dutchman may not be the only transgender competitor in El Salvador. News agency APaccording to Daniela Arroyo González will compete in the Miss Puerto Rico pageant in August.
Finland also saw the first transgender Miss Finland semi-finalist. 25 years old from Tampere Rimi Riutta competes for the Miss Finland title.
– I wanted to go and do important work for this society, because I have received help from the Finnish health care system, for example, with my gender reassignment process, Riutta told Iltalehte in June.
The Miss Universe pageant has allowed transgender participants since 2012. The first transgender competitor took the stage in 2018, when Angela Maria Ponce Camacho represented Spain in the competition.
A transgender contestant has never won Miss Universe. Currently, the rights to the competition are owned by the Thai media company JKN Global Group. The company is run by a trans woman Jakapong “Anne” Jakrajutatip.
The Miss Universe competition was founded in 1952 and the first winner was Finland’s Armi Kuusela.