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Will Jordan Davis Become the First Transgender Miss England?
Jordan Davis had a difficult upbringing, was bullied at school, and now—at 17—is hoping to become the first transgender winner of Miss England.
Jordan Davis was recently in an IKEA when a woman approached her. “You’re the girl in the paper,” the woman said. “Well, fair play to you. But no offense, love: The photos don’t do you justice. You look much better in person.” On the phone from her home in Coventry, England, Davis laughs. “All my life I wanted to be famous, but now I don’t like it.”
Well, she may have to get used to an extended 15 minutes. Davis, 17, is only the second declared transgender contestant to have taken part in the Miss England pageant. In 2012, the first, Jackie Green, reached the final of the national competition; Davis is in final 15 of her regional Coventry heat. If she wins that, she goes through to the national finals as Green did. Davis’s story has been featured in the local and national press.
When she first had sent pictures to Diane Slater, organizer of the Miss Coventry competition, the two women met up, but Davis felt she couldn’t tell Slater about being transgender, so she revealed all later via a Facebook message. She recalls Slater saying: “I would never have guessed in a million years.” Davis laughs. “She was very supportive and checked the rules and regulations: There was nothing in them to say contestants had to be born female or be biologically female.”
Slater didn’t divulge Davis’s sexual identity when she appeared in front of the judges at the audition for the Miss Coventry contest. “I walked into the room equal to the rest of the girls,” Davis says. There, she and the other women were judged on how they spoke and posed and for their elegance. “I passed with flying colors,” Davis says proudly. Out of 300 women, she was one of 15 chosen. She then came out about being transgendered, and heard that the response of one of the Miss England organizers was: “No way, she’s so pretty.”
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/28/will-jordan-davis-become-the-first-transgender-miss-england.html