A forklift truck driver is hoping to become the first lesbian Ms Great Britain since the pageant began 77 years ago. Mum-of-two Emma-Jay Webber, 40, has been taking part in beauty contests since 2016 when her marriage broke down and she was looking for a way to help her self-esteem.
In 2019 she became the first openly lesbian queen in UK pageantry – but now Emma hopes to be crowned the first gay Ms Great Britain. Emma said the glamour of her pageantry is a huge contrast to her day job at a flooring company where she is forklift driver.
She is the only woman working in the warehouse and said she had to become one of the boys – but loves the job. Emma hopes to fend off competition from 50 other women over the two-day final in October and shine a light on the LBGQ+ community.
A previous Miss Great Britain has come out as bisexual but Emma believes she will be the first openly gay finalist. Emma, from Cribbs Causeway, South Gloucestershire, said: “I got into pageantry back in 2016, my marriage had just ended and I wanted to try and improve my self-esteem.
“I had no clue what I was getting myself into but I loved everything it stood for and it was like a sisterhood. I fell in love with it and all the behind-the-scenes charity work you could do. Ever since then I have just had the bug for it.
“My day job is a forklift driver - it pays the bills. It’s a huge contrast to the glamour of pageantry but I love it.
“I am the only girl in the warehouse so I am definitely one of the boys.”
Emma is having a custom-made evening gown for the final in Leicester on October 20 and 21. In the lead up to the competition she is raising money for Cancer Research UK and Alex’s Wish.
Emma said: “There will be 50 girls in the final which is held over two days. On the first you have your power interview, which is like a job interview, and you have the chance to showcase your charity work.
“There is also a fashion round that day where you show your outfits. On the second day you have evening wear and swim wear showing.
“My charity work is for Cancer Research UK and Alex’s Wish, so over the next nine weeks I will be trying to raise as much as I can for those. The outfits can be expensive, my evening gown for the finals is being custom made.
“But with a bit of work you can make it affordable – at a previous pageant I wore a swim suit from Primark and added bits to it myself. I am not doing Ms GB for myself I am doing it for the entire LGBTQ+ community.
“It just takes one torch bearer to shine a light on everyone. Out of the hundreds of girls who do pageantry there has to be more from the LGBTQ+ community who take part but I don’t think they are very visible at the moment.
“Now is the time to bring a light to those people.”
