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Photos: Thai transgender boxer fights for acceptance
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Muay Thai boxer Nong Rose Baan Charoensuk, trains at a gym in Buriram province, Thailand. The 21-year-old started boxing at eight, following in the footsteps of an uncle, a Muay Thai fighter who encouraged her to train. Her twin brother is also a Muay Thai fighter. (Athit Perawongmetha / REUTERS)
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Born Somros Polchareon, Rose said she identified as a woman at an early age and began wearing makeup and a sports bra in the ring. In the rural towns where she has done most of her fighting, her appearance disconcerted some of her male opponents. (Athit Perawongmetha / REUTERS)
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Rose walks next to her trophies at her house in Phimai district in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand. (Athit Perawongmetha / REUTERS)
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Thailand is widely seen as a paradise for gay and transgender people, but many say they are treated as second-class citizens. (Athit Perawongmetha / REUTERS)
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Transgender women figure on television, in beauty pageants and at hair salons and cosmetics counters, but they cannot change their gender designation on identity papers, despite a 2015 law against gender-based discrimination. (Athit Perawongmetha / REUTERS)
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Rose prays at a shrine near the Baan Charoensuk gym in Chachoengsao province. (Athit Perawongmetha / REUTERS)
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‘Being a transgender doesn’t mean that we’re weak,’ Rose said after the fight. ‘We can achieve anything as well.’ (Athit Perawongmetha / REUTERS)
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Rose Baan Charoensuk, shaves her legs at the Baan Charoensuk gym. ‘They would say they didn’t want to fight with a gay person, as it would be embarrassing if they won or lost.I still face those insults, but I don’t care about them,’ Rose said. (Athit Perawongmetha / REUTERS)
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After more than 300 fights, racking up 30 of her 150 wins through knockouts, Rose said she was finally allowed to fight at Rajadamnern Stadium. (Athit Perawongmetha / REUTERS)
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Muay Thai boxer is massaged by her trainers before her boxing match at the Rajadamnern Stadium in Bangkok. (Athit Perawongmetha / REUTERS)
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Clad in a pink tank top and shorts, her face made up with rouge and red lipstick, transgender Muay Thai fighter Nong Rose Baan Charoensuk is a formidable opponent. (Athit Perawongmetha / REUTERS)
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‘She fights like a man because she is really a man,’said Priewpak,a male fighter who lost a thrilling five-round match to Rose at Rajadamnern Stadium in the Thai capital. (Athit Perawongmetha / REUTERS)
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