The director challenges beauty queens and allies to speak up after Schweighart claims trans women pose threats.
The ongoing debate over trans women in pageantry has intensified after transgender director Rodina Singh called out former Miss Philippines Earth 2016 Imelda Schweighart over her remarks about the LGBTQIA+ community.
Schweighart has yet to respond to Singh’s statement.
The controversy reignited after Schweighart made sweeping statements online, saying she feels threatened by queer and trans women and describing their presence as frightening because they were assigned male at birth.
Schweighart also claimed that members of the LGBTQIA+ community had directed cruel remarks at her about her appearance and the loss of her child. She also raised concerns about sharing restrooms with queer people and expressed views on AIDS and HIV.
In a lengthy Facebook essay, Singh, director of “Multwoh” and “Dreamboi,” addressed the escalating tension while acknowledging the differences between cisgender and transgender women’s experiences.
Singh recognized that transgender women and cisgender women have different lived experiences. However, she drew the line at using those distinctions to invalidate or vilify an entire marginalized group.
She stressed that while the cruelty Schweighart allegedly experienced from certain individuals was unjustifiable, those personal attacks should not define the entire LGBTQIA+ community.
Singh argued that recognizing transgender women does not require erasing the experiences of cisgender women. She also expressed concern that a personal disagreement had evolved into a justification for treating an entire community as an enemy.
“As a transgender woman, I am not asking other women to surrender their experiences so that mine can be recognized. Hindi ko kailangang angkinin ang karanasan ng isang babaeng ipinanganak na babae para maging totoo ang pagkababae ko.”
According to Singh, framing trans women or gay men as threats to womanhood or masculinity stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of queer existence.
“Womanhood is not a territory that needs to be defended from invaders,” Singh wrote, warning that the language of protection can devolve into the language of exclusion.
She also pointed out what she sees as a contradiction in invoking women’s liberation while aligning with political movements that have historically sought to limit women’s autonomy.
In closing, Singh challenged cisgender women who consider themselves allies to speak up for the transgender community.
She urged public figures and beauty queens who have benefited from the love and support of the LGBTQIA+ community to clarify whether they truly feel threatened by the existence of trans people.
For Singh, true allyship is tested not when diversity is fashionable and celebrated, but when a community’s right to exist is called into question.
“Because ultimately, allyship is not proven by how much you love us when we are celebrated, but by whether you are willing to stand beside us when our existence is being questioned,” Singh declared.
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