“We faced the audience with our transsexual beauty,” trans beauty pageant contestant Sabrina Mab states proudly at a unique event in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday night.

Billed as the first of its kind in South America, the Brazilian-hosted Transgender Beauty Pageant featured 19 competitors who vied to take out the title of ‘Miss T Brasil’.

Proving that trans women have style, grace and heels that make them a clear head above the rest, Mab told reporters that the “contest is key for the visibility of us” and “allows us to secure our rights.”

Barbara Aires, president of the Rio Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals, spoke out against the adversity and discrimination that has plagued the South American nation in the past few months following the horrific stoning to death of a 39-year-old transperson from Aracaju.

“We want to have the right to choose the job we want. The right not to be excluded,” she said.

Rio’s world-first beauty pageant comes just a few months after a huge international furor over the brief disqualification of gorgeous transgender model Jenna Talackova from the Canadian Miss Universe contest. Miss Universe pageant boss Donald Trump reacted to the controversy by officially stating that transgender women can now enter his coveted international event.

Watch a video report from Rio’s transgender beauty pageant below.