Saying this is ‘our’ event is nonsensical, because it’s actually the event of one person who’s seeking to make a profit.

In addition to this, many people in the many communities within the trans world are trying to get away from things like ‘Passing’ and heteronormative ideas of beauty because they are damaging to us in the long run.

Of course it’s great to say “Wow, look who won, is she just not the prettiest person you’ve ever seen, good for her. Good for this competition”

But then comes the idea that if you don’t look like that, you’re not valid. We have seen it historically. The idea of looking a certain way or of ‘passing’ is so abhorant in nature that it actually causes more problems that it solves because it excludes so many people. It tells trans people and the public that if you do not conform to cis ideals of looks and beauty that you are ‘not real’ or ‘valid’. It stops people from coming out for many years and it contributes to attempted suicide rates. This competition promotes all the wrong things. It cannot be said to be a competition for and on behalf of trans people, or as you said “one of our own events”, because when concerns were raised about how this would affect people in the real world and how much work it would undo, the organiser simply shunned…. EVERYONE and carried on regardless. That is not community.

The medical issue is another one entirely, which sits atop of this mess of a competition. It is unethical to give surgery as a prize and then to pressure that person to have it before a certain date. It has been slammed by medical professionals in the UK and it has been deemed to be irresponsible because of some of the systems it not just bypasses (which are there to safeguard the patient), but that it complately ignores. Hence why it’s in India.

It also invalidates people who choose to not have surgery assuming the ultimate goal MUST be surgery.

Yes the NHS is a problem and this organisation and many others are working on that, however the solution is not to irresponsibly give a coerced prize of surgery.

Money would have been better and then it could have been used as and when a person wanted, surgery or otherwise!

The whole thing is a sham.

The real problem is an average wait of 5.5 years on the NHS. Knock the NHS not people just like you who are trying to make a difference! Shame on you.