On Tuesday, the Miss Italy pageant issued a statement banning transgender contestants from taking part in the beauty contest.
“Lately, beauty contests have been trying to make the news by also using strategies that I think are a bit absurd,” Miss Italy Official Patron Patrizia Mirigliani said, according to TND. “Miss Italia, on the other hand, will not jump on the glittery bandwagon of trans activism.”
“Since it was born, my competition has foreseen in its regulation the clarification according to which one must be a woman from birth. Probably because, even then, it was foreseen that beauty could undergo modifications, or that women could undergo modifications, or that men could become women,” Mirigliani said during an interview with Radio Cusano earlier this month.
The ban from the Italian pageant comes just a few weeks after a transgender beauty queen contestant was crowned Miss Netherlands 2023.
Rikkie Valerie Kolle, a 22-year-old biological male, was named Miss Universe Netherlands, defeating a field of nine biological women. Later this year, Kolle will represent the Netherlands at the 72nd Miss Universe competition in El Salvador.
In an Instagram post, Kolle wrote, “Hey darlings, as you know, I proudly admit that I wasn’t born as the woman I wanted to be, but I have developed myself into the woman I am. Over four months ago, I had my surgery. For ME, it completed the circle and brought me happiness.”
Kolle is not the first transgender individual to win a national competition. In 2018, transgender beauty contestant Angela Ponce was declared Miss Spain in the Miss Universe contest.
The Miss Universe changed its rules to allow transgender contestants to compete in 2012, and in October 2022, transgender billionaire Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip purchased Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA.
“It’s the No. 1 beauty Olympics in the world, but it’s not just about beauty, it’s about the iconic woman — beauty, brains and leadership,” the new owner said at the time. “I believe in the power of women to transform into the best versions of themselves.”
Jakrajutatip added, “I was bullied a lot in school, because I was a woman trapped in the wrong body.”
In 2022, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Miss United States of America contest could not be forced to allow transgender contestants to compete in its pageants.
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