Despite missing out on the Miss Universe 2019 crown, Miss Myanmar Swe Zin Htet leaves the pageant as a new champion for her country’s marginalised LGBTQ community.
Days before the Miss Universe preliminary competition, the model came out publicly as lesbian on the beauty blog Missology and on the same day posted a gay pride flag on her Instagram.
The 21-year-old timed the revelation to coincide with stepping into the spotlight of the international event—a move, she hopes, will help change anti-LGBTQ attitudes in conservative Myanmar, where a colonial-era law criminalizes homosexuality.
“I have that platform that, if I say that I’m a lesbian, it will have a big impact on the LGBTQ community back in Burma,” she told PEOPLE magazine.
“The difficult thing is that in Burma, LGBTQ people are not accepted. They are looked down on by other people and are being discriminated against.”
Swe Zin Htet, who is also a singer and actress, has been dubbed “Superman” by her fans. She told the American weekly magazine that she remembers first feeling same sex-attraction when she was around 15 or 16.
Being okay with it, even to herself, was “kind of difficult,” she says, “but after a period of time I felt I was a lesbian and kind of accepted it.”
When she came out to her parents five years ago, “at first, they were mad. They didn’t accept me,” she recalls. “But later, when they found out more about the LGBTQ community, they started to accept me.”
While those close to Swe Zin Htet knew she loved women—and she has been in a three-year relationship with singer Gae Gae, whom she met at a party—she says she otherwise kept it a secret.
Now she is planning to become an advocate for LGBTQ issues.
“It’s like I just started a new chapter in life,” she told PEOPLE.
Although rarely enforced, section 377 of Myanmar’s penal code holds up to 10 years’ imprisonment for “whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal.”
The legislation has been interpreted to mean homosexuality and enables authorities to harass LGBTQ people.
Slowly the LGBTQ community is stepping out into the public eye, with a pride festival and an LGBTQ boat parade down Yangon river this year.
But harsh reminders of ingrained homophobia still occur, including the story of a gay librarian who took his own life this year after being bullied at work.
“Love is the most powerful thing and people fall in love with human beings, not gender,” Swe Zin Htet told Missology. “We should always have the freedom of choice and promote equality.”
