I'm not arguing that AFAB queens should be in every pageant, it totally makes sense to have ones that are geared towards trans contestants.

But I think there are quite a few differences between a standard cis woman beauty pageant, and a drag pageant. So I'm not sure that it's really fair to tell AFAB drag queens that they should just go be in those mainstream pageants? Like, they would have to completely change their hair, makeup, outfits, as well as their talent, etc to comply with mainstream pageant standards. You can't just show up as a drag queen at a mainstream pageant. There is a reason that these queens gravitated towards the art of drag and didn't become mainstream pageant girls. So imo they should be allowed to showcase their drag skills in a pageant that is geared towards queens, and judged/put on by other queer people.

Do I think they need to be in every pageant? No, absolutely not. But there is a place for them in the queer pageant circle. EOY has a femme category, which I think is great. I just don't think it's fair to tell queens who have skills that are specific to drag that they should just fuck off and go do a basic bitch mainstream pageant, like the standards are not the same at all.