Bhutan’s first beauty queen, Tashi Choden, is 23 years old and all set to represent her country at Miss Universe 2022.
Choden, who is openly gay (read gay) is of mixed ethnicity – he was born to a Bhutanese mother and a Tibetan father. According to The Bhutanese, Choden’s mother, Kinli Wangmo, hailed from the Sha area of Domkha village in Wangduphodang, and ran a shop in Bajo town, and came to Thimphu to bring supplies for her business. On one of her visits, she met Tashi’s father, Chombal, a Tibetan khampa businessman from Nagaland, on a business trip to Thimphu. The couple got married and moved to Nagaland. But after tragedy struck her, and her parents passed away, she moved back to the Land of the Dragon at the age of 14.
The young lady did not let adversity affect her and secured a modeling assignment at the age of 15 and there was no looking back for her after her first stint as a model.
After doing several modeling assignments, winning a handful of beauty pageants and starring in a few Bhutanese films, she participated in the Miss Bhutan pageant and won it.
While her participation in Miss Universe 2022 is news in itself, her sexual orientation has generated a lot of interest among Bhutanese people. “Initially, I came across as a bisexual person on my Facebook account, but as I researched and read more, I realized that I really am a woman who is comfortable in my body and that of other women. is attracted to,” Tashi said in Bhutanese.
The young woman is now looking forward to victory on the Miss Universe stage, upon her victory, saying, “When the stars align, then you come home. While giving me pageants ever since I worked on other projects It’s been years since I lost touch. A lot of people think that my experience gave me an advantage, but I don’t think every competitor was qualified. To be honest, I was surprised to win after a pretty poor command over Dzongkha, But it was a learning experience for me, and I will keep working to become worthy of the title,” she told the daily.