South African Wins World Gay Pageant
February 17, 2010 by Jason Shaw
A South African man has won the 2010 Mr Gay World pageant in Oslo Norway. The 28 year old beat rivals from as far away as Australia, Hong Kong, China and Spain.
Charl Van den Berg whose 28, who runs a restaurant in Cape Town, South Africa won the competition on Sunday, after four days of heats that finished with a walk down a fashion runaway in an Oslo nightclub dressed in skimpy swimwear and various costumes and outfits.
Organisers say the ‘global’ competition is aimed at “finding a leader who can take on the responsibility of being a spokesman for the community and who can also speak out on equality and human rights on the world stage,”
Xiaodai Muyi, 26, from China and who took fourth place, competed despite Beijing’s attempts to prevent him doing so. The Chinese authorities blocked China’s own first gay pageant, in which contestants were vying for the right to represent China at Mr Gay World, last month, they also tried to prevent the 26 year old from travelling to the event in Oslo. Xiaodai’s identity had been kept secret in the run-up to the competition in which some 20 men from around the world vied for the Mr Gay World title. Homosexuality was a crime in China until 1997 and it was officially considered a mental illness until 2001. Since then, however, an increasing number of visible gay and lesbian events has taken place.
In a recent interview Muyi said that he wanted to compete despite the very real possibility of facing the wrath of the Chinese government for his participation in the gay event upon his return home to China. He said he hoped his appearance would inspire others to do the same. “I think that by participating in this competition I will encourage hundreds of thousands of Chinese gays to stand up and come out of the closet,”
Australia’s Byron Adu, 25, who works for the Australian government, was in second place followed by Rick Dean Twombley, 33, a dancer from Hong Kong while Spanish entrant Sergio Lara, a 26-year-old psychologist, came fifth out of the 30 finalists from all over the world.
The first duty of the newly appointed Worldwide Mr. Gay will be to fly to the Canadian host city of the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver. As well as taking part in the Olympic festivities, the 28 year old Van De Berg will be an ambassador for equality and diversity at Pride House – a safe space that brings visibility to queer people in sport.
Jason Shaw, Brighton, England.
GayAgenda.com’s United Kingdom Correspondent.
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