LGBT News Briefs: Pageant and Parish
Transgender beauty contestant in Canada and churchgoing gay in Austria fight back
Beauty Pageant Hopeful Takes on Miss Universe Over Gender Identity
Jenna Talackova, 23, spoke on Tuesday, alongside celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, about her ordeal of being kicked out of, then readmitted to, the Miss Universe Canada pageant, Canada’s Postmedia News service reports.
The treatment of Talackova by Donald Trump’s pageant franchise seems to stem from the contestant’s gender identity, in that she was born biologically male. Talackova began hormone treatment when she was 14, and underwent gender-transition surgery. Her birth certificate, driver’s license and passport all confirm her female identity.
She is, however, being allowed back in the pageant on condition she meets ”legal gender recognition requirements of Canada.”
”I wish Mr. Trump would just say in plain words whether or not I will be allowed to compete, and if I win, whether I’d be allowed to represent Canada in the Miss Universe competition,” Talackova said, as reported by Postmedia. ”I also want Mr. Trump to clearly sate that this rule be eliminated, because I do not want any other woman to suffer the discrimination I have endured.”
Allred also spoke to the press April 3, saying, ”Trump has caved in a bit already. He has to go the rest of the way and say it loudly, and say it clearly, that not only will Jenna be allowed to compete, but that the rule is gone – no ifs, ands, buts or ors. No conditions and no excuses.”
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