Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Miss Homeless Contest Slammed
Ananova ^ | 10/18/2009 | Ananova

Posted on 10/18/2009 12:09:16 PM PDT by Dallas59



Women's rights groups have slammed a Miss Homeless contest in Belgium that ended when a 58-year-old woman won the first prize of a rent free flat for a year.

Miss Homeless finalists /Europics

Therese Van Belle, 58, beat nine other finalists in the contest who will now all go back on the streets.

Organiser Aline Duportail said the competition was meant to draw attention to the plight of the homeless.

But woman's rights activist Jacqueline Aubenas said: "I am outraged. These girls that turned into puppets parodying their own life is an absolute pathetic."

The contest was judged over two months with elimination rounds that culminated in a final that included catwalk skills and fashion judgement.

Aline Duportail said: "The event was about the contestants' inner strength and determination to get themselves out of their old life and on a new path."

Runner up Leonie Renier, 39, said she had lost her house and custody of her children because of drug and alcohol abuse.

She said: "The contest is not obscene - for a homeless person to want to be beautiful is not obscene. It is the misery of life on the streets that is obscene."

The contest was sponsored by local firms including a florist and a restaurant that were on the judging panel of the contest organised by social worker Mathilde Pelsers, 54, and her beauty queen daughter Aline Duportail, aged 18.

Winner Therese who was selected for her "fighting spirit and her will to improve her situation" said: "I'm really overcome, I've never been lucky in my life. This is the first time I've been lucky. I think my life is about to change for the better."


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Computers/Internet; Society
KEYWORDS: contest; homeless; pageant
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

1 posted on 10/18/2009 12:09:17 PM PDT by Dallas59
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Dallas59

bump


2 posted on 10/18/2009 12:10:00 PM PDT by ConservativeMan55
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59

Sick!


3 posted on 10/18/2009 12:15:36 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59
Therese Van Belle, 58, beat nine other finalists in the contest who will now all go back on the streets.

Damn, talk about losing!

4 posted on 10/18/2009 12:15:47 PM PDT by SIDENET ("If that's your best, your best won't do." -Dee Snider)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59

Have you ever noticed that it is usually only the liberals that purport to represent the homeless, poor, minority, what have you that get offended?


5 posted on 10/18/2009 12:17:24 PM PDT by Doohickey (I try to take my days one at a time, but occasionally several days attack me at once.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SIDENET

And, after her 12 month rent-free apartment runs out ... then what?


6 posted on 10/18/2009 12:17:25 PM PDT by BunnySlippers (I LOVE BULL MARKETS . . .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: BunnySlippers
And, after her 12 month rent-free apartment runs out ... then what?

Out on her arse.

7 posted on 10/18/2009 12:18:07 PM PDT by SIDENET ("If that's your best, your best won't do." -Dee Snider)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: BunnySlippers

>And, after her 12 month rent-free apartment runs out ... then what?

All the more incentive to take advantage of that easement to jump-start financial security.


8 posted on 10/18/2009 12:19:54 PM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59

If they had a swimsuit competition there wouldn’t be a winner.


9 posted on 10/18/2009 12:20:32 PM PDT by Richard Kimball (We're all criminals. They just haven't figured out what some of us have done yet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SIDENET

Should have offered her a refrigerator box and a years supply of New York Times she can use for whatever purpose she deems correct.


10 posted on 10/18/2009 12:20:40 PM PDT by Yorlik803 ( Better to die on your feet than live on your knees.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeMan55
Miss Homeless Contest - this is great. We should have them here. Three more years of BHO - when we're all living under bridges - we can have the Obamaville USA Miss Homeless Pageant.

I can see it now. Hot, emaciated girls in burlap bags vying for the chance to move into rundown high rise apartments.

Hope and Change is on the way.

11 posted on 10/18/2009 12:21:45 PM PDT by Upstate NY Guy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59

Maybe staying off crack would be good skills competition for this contest.


12 posted on 10/18/2009 12:22:57 PM PDT by thefactor (yes, as a matter of fact, i DID only read the excerpt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59

wait a sec... second from the left didn’t win?

Thats an outrage.


13 posted on 10/18/2009 12:23:58 PM PDT by GeronL (They Made It Happen On Purpose Economically. MIHOPE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59
Wait just a darn minute--this is Belgium--Brussels, home of the social paradise, the Eurpean Union, where everybody is happy all the time and everything one needs is paid for cortesy of the benevolent welfare state--What are there homeless people doing in the EU?
14 posted on 10/18/2009 12:29:30 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard (Truth--The liberal's Kryptonite)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59

The beauty part of dating a homeless woman?
When the date is finished, you can drop her off anywhere.


15 posted on 10/18/2009 12:30:13 PM PDT by Southern Partisan (One issue voter...and it ain't abortion.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59

Hard to see how anyone could be homeless these days. We’ve got 2 homes for every person. And of course the lefties don’t want you talking about the homeless on their watch in any event.


16 posted on 10/18/2009 12:50:22 PM PDT by Brilliant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Southern Partisan; MotleyGirl70; Larry Lucido; earlJam
When the date is finished, you can drop her off anywhere.

Yea, but you'll never get invited "up for a cup of coffee".

Donna: So, er, thanks for dinner. It was great.

George: Yeah. We should do this again.

Donna: Would you like to come upstairs for some coffee?

George: Oh, no, thanks. I can't drink coffee late at night, it keeps me up.

17 posted on 10/18/2009 12:54:12 PM PDT by Cagey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59

Maybe she could invite the other 7 to move in and
together they could help one another...


18 posted on 10/18/2009 2:13:49 PM PDT by savage woman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cagey; Larry Lucido; MotleyGirl70

I wonder if Rusty provided valet rickshaw service and if muffin stumps were were served at the concession stand.


19 posted on 10/18/2009 2:51:57 PM PDT by earlJam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59

Hope & Change Belgian style


20 posted on 10/18/2009 6:41:54 PM PDT by Tainan (Cogito, ergo conservatus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson