Meet Solongo Batsukh, Mongolia’s transgender beauty queen who refuses to stay hidden despite backlash on social media

She is among the few LGBT people who have dared to come out in Mongolia, where some 80 per cent of the community remain in the closet, according to a UN survey

Batsukh wants to dispel the idea that transgender women can only be sex workers or strippers by becoming a celebrity in her home country

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Solongo Batsukh at a salon in Ulan Bator. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:53am, 27 Dec 2018Updated: 10:18pm, 27 Dec 2018

Make-up artist Solongo Batsukh braves Mongolia’s below-freezing temperatures in just a skimpy black dress and light pastel pink coat – the country’s trailblazing transgender beauty queen wants to look good in any weather.

“I don’t like to look puffy,” the 25-year-old says as she drives to a beauty salon that hired her to promote its products and services via Facebook live videos.

Solongo Batsukh (second left) competing in the Miss Universe Mongolia competition. Photo: AFP

It’s with this typical bluntness, confidence and attitude that taboo-breaking Batsukh strutted into the country’s first ever Miss Universe Mongolia competition in October.

Although she fell short of representing her country at the Miss Universe contest in Thailand on December 17, her participation shed light on a group living on the edges of a deeply patriarchal country with conservative views about sexual orientation. Had she won, she would have joined Miss Spain’s Angela Ponce as the first transgender contestants in Miss Universe’s 66-year history.

“I wanted to inspire as many women as possible,” Batsukh says. “But I’m still proud that I got the chance to compete in this contest, and the ‘Solongo’ I created was a true winner in my heart.”

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