A transgender person is now one step closer to being crowned Miss USA.
Kataluna Enriquez, a biological male, won the Miss Silver State USA pageant this week, an event considered the biggest preliminary competition for the Miss Nevada USA pageant, KVVU-TV reported.
The outlet called it a “monumental win” for Enriquez, who will now move on to the statewide competition in the pageant circuit that leads to Miss USA and, eventually, the Miss Universe competition.
In an interview with the local news outlet after the victory, Enriquez called the experience “a celebration of womanhood and diversity and this celebration of being your true self.”
But Enriquez noted that she has not always been so well liked in the pageant world. She recalled at a previous pageant, which she chose not to name in the report, when event organizers found out she was a transgender, they required her to provide medical documents to prove she was female. The organizers also allegedly refused to assign her a roommate.
“I was asked to provide documents that were invasive in my opinion physically asking me to get a letter from my doctor,” Enriquez said. “It brought me back to a time where I felt like I was not welcome.”
But according to KVVU-TV, Enriquez said instead of shying away from her transgender identity based on past experiences she has decided to make “awareness of the transgender community” her pageant platform.
That message evidently resonated in the Miss Silver State USA pageant and may prove to benefit Enriquez in upcoming competitions, especially as transgenderism gains popularity in progressive circles and pressure mounts to avoid even the slightest appearance of discrimination.
Over the last few years, pageant organizations have started to receive entries from more and more biological males and have been hit with backlash upon denying the participants from competing.
This is an excerpt from The Blaze.
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