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Shaine Soni

Fashion designer Shaine Soni was crowned Miss Transqueen India, the country's beauty pageant for transgender women, on Saturday. She will represent India at Miss International Queen 2021, the world's biggest pageant for transgender women.

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/mi...hnk/index.html

While Soni was born biologically male, she identified as a girl from a young age -- and was confused and dismayed when people around her began insisting she was a boy, and told her to act and behave like one.

As she grew up, she faced increasing pressure from relatives and friends who would discourage her from growing her hair long, wearing "girly" clothes, or having "effeminate" mannerisms, she said over the phone. "With so much pressure and bullying around me, I desperately felt I was different and that there was a problem in me."

She found some relief when, as a teenager, she began researching and stumbled upon information about gender identity and gender confirmation surgery. She ended up leaving home at 17, pursuing an education in fashion, and transitioning with hormonal therapy a few years later -- a process that she described as "difficult."

"A lot of my friends gave up on me, they could not understand," she said. "But I was very determined, so I went ahead and did everything on my own."

Soni never officially came out to her family, but they stayed in touch after she transitioned -- with a big "elephant in the room that we don't point out."
She graduated from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, started her own label, won a reality design show, and launched a career as a stylist...

...and, at the same time, got involved in LGBTQ advocacy. Over the past few years, she and other activists in the country have campaigned for greater LGBTQ representation and accurate information in school curricula and textbooks.