Make-up artist Solongo Batsukh braves Mongolia’s below-freezing temperatures in just a skimpy black dress and light pastel pink coat – the country’s trailblazing transgender beauty queen wants to look good in any weather.

“I don’t like to look puffy,” the 25-year-old says as she drives to a beauty salon that hired her to promote its products and services via Facebook live videos. It’s with this typical bluntness, confidence and attitude that taboo-breaking Batsukh strutted into the country’s first ever Miss Universe Mongolia competition in October.

Although she fell short of representing her country at the Miss Universe contest in Thailand on December 17, her participation shed light on a group living on the edges of a deeply patriarchal country with conservative views about sexual orientation. Had she won, she would have joined Miss Spain’s Angela Ponce as the first transgender contestants in Miss Universe’s 66-year history.

“I wanted to inspire as many women as possible,” Batsukh says. “But I’m still proud that I got the chance to compete in this contest, and the ‘Solongo’ I created was a true winner in my heart.”

Her participation did not please everyone, provoking some negative reactions on social media.

It was when she started working as a programme officer at Youth for Health, a non-governmental organisation that provides safe-sex education for LGBT people, that she realised she was a woman born in a man’s body. She started wearing wigs, putting on dresses and taking hormone therapy. Read more via SCMP