South Africa — The Miss Gay Gauteng pageant, open to cross-dressing gay men, was held in the Witwatersrand Theatre in Johannesburg in 1997. This sort of pageant is usually very well supported when held in a local nightspot frequented by Gauteng’s gay community, but local theatre going audiences failed to pack in the theatre.
Poor organisation and weak marketing combined with a handfull of spectators led to the pageant being postponed for many hours. None the less, the participants applied make-up and costume and tried to choreograph the show whilst waiting for the show’s organisers and judges to arrive. Many finishing touches to make-up were applied and re-applied and costumes made just right and tales were swapped as the contestants refused to give up on the hope that the crowds would soon be in to see who would be crowned queen.