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Rikkie Valerie Kollé Is the First Trans Woman to Win Miss Netherlands

Rikkie Valerie Kollé, Miss Netherlands 2023, can nonetheless hardly imagine she gained her nation’s annual pageant.

She spent all day on Saturday getting ready for and having fun with each second of the ceremony that night time, which was attended by the reigning Miss Universe, the American R’Bonney Gabriel.

The present, which started at 8 p.m., flew by, “and two and a half hours later I was Miss Netherlands,” Ms. Kollé, 22, stated in a cellphone interview on Tuesday, including that her victory “had finally sunk in.”

Ms. Kollé’s win is historic: She is the first trans lady to win the pageant in the Netherlands, and he or she will likely be the second brazenly trans lady to compete in a Miss Universe competitors when she represents her nation in El Salvador later this yr.

As the first trans lady to be named Miss Netherlands, Ms. Kollé stated she hoped to be there for her neighborhood and assist younger queer individuals, in addition to elevate consciousness of the lengthy ready occasions for transgender health care in the Netherlands.

“I’m going to be an open book,” she stated. In February, a post on her Instagram account outlined her experiences as a baby and her therapies as a youngster in addition to an replace about her gender-transition surgical procedure.

But being an open e-book on social media comes with a number of hate, too, and avoiding on-line negativity might be troublesome. Ms. Kollé stated she had confronted a number of on-line abuse and insults since profitable the pageant, as had a few of her shut members of the family, together with her mom and sister.

Ms. Kollé is just not the first Dutch trans lady to attain the Miss Netherlands finals. Solange Dekker, a finalist from final yr’s competitors who took house the title of Miss Social Media, went on to grow to be the first Dutch Miss International Queen 2023 final month, an annual pageant for trans women.

When she goes to El Salvador, Ms. Kollé will likely be the second trans lady to partake in a Miss Universe competitors. Spain’s Angela Ponce, additionally a trans lady, was a finalist in 2018.

“We’re really looking for the most beautiful woman in the Netherlands,” stated Monica van Ee, a member of the jury who selected Ms. Kollé this weekend. She can also be the nationwide director of Miss Netherlands.

She stated that whereas nationwide and worldwide media had been to speak about Ms. Kollé’s victory, lots of people had despatched upsetting and threatening messages attacking Ms. Kollé.

Anne Jakrajutatip, the proprietor of the mum or dad firm of Miss Universe who’s a trans lady herself, celebrated Ms. Kollé’s win in a press release.

“My Miss Universe superfan conversion was sitting in the front row while Angela Ponce, the first trans Miss Universe Spain, walked the runway for the first time,” Ms. Jakrajutatip stated, including that she was completely happy to make a press release that “trans women are women — and we are here to celebrate women.”

Ms. Kollé, who’s from the southern Dutch metropolis of Breda, has modeled since she was a youngster. She stated she selected to apply to grow to be Miss Netherlands as a result of pageants provided her an opportunity to inform her story.

As a mannequin, she stated, “you’re a bit of a clothes hanger. Otherwise you mostly have to be quiet.” But in the world of pageantry, she stated, “it’s also important that you have something to say.”

Ms. van Ee, Miss Netherlands’s nationwide director, stated that over the final decade or so, the pageant had modernized. Now, moms, divorced women and trans women can take part, she stated. “I took over Miss Netherlands because I wanted to make women stronger,” Ms. van Ee stated. “I want to inspire young girls.”

She stated she had been shocked by the variety of unfavourable responses from males and women.

The excellent winner of a Miss Netherlands competitors should have a formidable presence and make heads flip when she walks right into a room. She additionally wants a message that may encourage others, Ms. van Ee stated. “Beauty comes from the inside,” she stated.

She stated that Ms. Kollé had been the strongest contender. “Throughout the whole process, she was the most beautiful woman,” Ms. van Ee stated.

“I was chosen for who I am and my story,” Ms. Kollé stated, “and not because I’m a trans woman.”




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