VANCOUVER, B.C. — A beauty pageant contestant has been disqualified from the Miss Universe Canada competition after the organizers discovered that she had undergone surgery to become a woman. Pageant organizers said that according to official rules, each contestant must be a “naturally born female.”
Jenna Talackova
Jenna Talackova, a 23-year-old transgender woman, had reached the finals of the Miss Vancouver competition, but was ousted from the competition because organizers said she lied about having undergone sexual reassignment surgery and did not meet requirements for the pageant.
“All I can say is that they disqualified me because I am not ‘natural born,’” Talackova said Friday in an email to the Vancouver Sun. “(That) doesn’t make sense because since I was conscious I always felt this way.”
Talackova told the Sun she has identified as female since age four, began hormone therapy at 14 and had sex reassignment surgery in 2010.
According to a statement issued Friday by the Miss Universe Canada organization, Talackova “did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form.”
“As with any competition, the Miss Universe pageant has rules which apply to all of its franchises around the world. Such rules include, but are not limited to, citizenship, age, and marital status requirements. Additionally, the rules currently state that all contestants must be naturally born females,” the Miss Universe Organization said.
CNN noted that those rules are not specifically mentioned on the Miss Universe website.
Michael Cole-Schwartz, spokesman for the LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, called the decision unfair and unnecessary.
“Jenna is a woman,” he said. “She presents as a woman, she lives as a woman, and that’s all that matters.”
“Any term that separates her from any other woman is demeaning,” Cole-Schwartz added.
Rory Richards, a spokeswoman for the 23-year-old Vancouver resident, said Talackova will not be able to talk to reporters pending possible legal action.
The Miss Universe Canada pageant is a franchise licensed by the Miss Universe Organization, headed by U.S. business magnate Donald Trump.
Filed under: North America
Florida teen fighting criminal charges related to same-sex relationship
Harvey: Gays deserve to be fired for displaying their lifestyles to everyone
Wash. florist who refused flowers for gay couple’s wedding files suit against state
Anti-gay marriage activist commits suicide on alter at Notre Dame cathedral
Texas judge enforces ‘morality clause’ to split up lesbian couple
Catholic school: Transgender student must wear girl’s graduation gown
Candidate for Va. Lt. Governor warns same-sex marriage leads to bestiality
ACLU, attorney condemn prosecution of teen who had sex with minor girlfriend
Sex and the teenage girl: The Kaitlyn Hunt tragedy
UPDATED: Police call fatal New York City shooting an anti-gay hate crime
Attorney implies suspect’s child sexual abuse was a factor NYC killing
Iowa anti-gay activist explains his opposition to gay marriage: ‘It’s awful’
Details emerge in case against teen accused of lewd behavior with girlfriend
BREAKING: French president signs marriage equality bill into law
Fucked up shit.!
What a bunch of jerks….should let her compete!
Why do people like this? Grrrr…
Fuck the haters.
Transgender people are just as beautiful/handsome as bio people.
oh my gosh that is soo fucked up..!
i would let her continue if she made it that far..
Question: Do they allow women who have under gone surgery to “amplify” their looks to compete? If they do, this is BS. If they don’t, it is only fair.
Stupid.
I don’t wanna fuck the haters, I might get a disease :c
Miss Universe is a bitch! Shes just jealous cause the trans woman is more beautiful than her.
Sadly, but not surprisingly, they are discriminating against trans women and a lot of other women, based on parental status and other factors. Discrimination is discrimination but apparently you can sometimes get away with it.
That woman deserves to win
I think she should be applauded for having gotten that far!! a groundbreaker
Well think about it.. In RuPaul’s Drag Race, you can’t be a transgender man to qualify. So I guess the same rules apply.
Lesbians and gays are getting alot of attention… More and more ppl are learning to accept who we are… Bt a bigger crisis is in frnt of us and as a community and nation we need to stand up for transgenders and shed light on the cruelty & inequality ..
oh yeah Jamie Gardner is one of them she is a pretty transgender person
she’s a female now! Let her be a contestant! Bloody hell!
Hopefully she’ll take legal matters and be able to continue or try again. She is one of the sexiest women I’ve ever seen, and I don’t like blondes. xD
If you follow the link, the button is not “liking” it’s recommending it… People get upset about that with every story and it’s unnecessary.
Why? Because ‘he’ may make a prettier woman than the woman? He’s not a man anymore. He should sue.
She is a natural born woman…inside where it counts. I’m not a big beauty pageant fan but they should let this woman back in. She deserves it!
Two words— Donald Trump!!
I’m far more concerned about the price of gasoline… this is just not Anything of interest to me!
nope…she is still a man on the inside….DNA!!!! i
In RuPaul’s show, it is to become or recognized as a top performer. As far as a transgender woman, the surgery is to confirm who you are already; to bring out the person you are on the inside, so that people will know you. Same rules would not apply; she is a woman, not a man and a very courageous woman, at that!
Matthew you’re a tool.
she deserves to compete of all the obsticles and challenges she has overcome it dont make sense why she cant compete she may have been born a he but she knows WHO SHE IS and always has been
all the surgeries and hormones, can make her look and act like a woman, but biologically she is still a man..
Do the competition organisers also exclude women who were born by caesarian? They’re not “naturally born” either. If someone is legally a woman and is excluded on irrelevant historical information, she should file a legal challenge.
So, Chuck, why comment at all? Just askin’
Trans women have had to take on sports authorities to particiate at Olympic level, and they’ve won. A beauty competition should find it easier to recognise trans women as there is no suggestion that previous muscle development might enhance beauty is there?
So messed up shes a women now. That’s all that matters. That’s sexist to only let natural born women in… i agree with Ashley she is really sexy and o don’t like blondes either.
how many pageant contestants would test for genetic abnormalitys Im sure many are not all perfect geneticly there are genetic women born with internal testicals oh sure they look female enough but are unable to have children!
personally i think all that means is that she should be commended even more and praised for looking better then the “natural born” women because she had to work harder for it!! she should get 2 awards :D
I honestly think comments should be disabled if possible. If you don’t have anything nice to say about the transgender community, don’t say anything at all or STFU!
Many thousands of women around the world suffer from a disorder known as Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS), or in old text books as Testicular Feminisation Syndrome. The syndrome is of great interest because it conclusively proves (though perhaps still not to some judges and lawyers) that women can have XY genes, a fact which has considerable significance for genetically XY Male-to-Female (MTF) transsexuals.
If the women already in the contest have breast implants and nose jobs, I don’t see why a transgender woman can’t compete…. just my opinion.
To Matthew McIlnay, I urge you to read a book on genetics, because you made yourself seem very foolish for a blatant mistruth you just spouted as fact. Please educate yourself before trying to educate others. On the issue at hand — if the contest allows women with plastic surgery to compete, then this lovely young lady should as well. If the rules prohibit anyone who has undergone reconstructive surgery from participating, that would incude her.
Naturally born??? Jenna is a stunning beauty, and if your going to go there .. Then All of them need to stand on that stage as they were born … no fake hair / body paint/ makeup/ breast implants no airbrushing … Period . beauty pageants are Creepy any way … women walking on a stage like they are nothing more than cattle
Hot damn that’s a sexy transexual
Matthew McIlnay your an arsehole
a beauty pagent shud b jus that an if a man dressed in drag wins i dont think its fair to strip him of the crown, i jus think thats a crazy rule someone has to b a “naturally born female”… who says “are u a naturally born male/female” i think ur rite Linda that sounds like somethin them 2words wud add,lol
I’m sick off all the “haters” in the world. Why can’t society just live and let live.
AND if the woman in the picture is the one they’re talking about… YOWZA! hot hot hot! I’b turn lesbian for that lol <3 She should be proud either way.
They need to change the rules. I think every little boy should be able to grow up knowing she can be President or Miss America or Bishop of New Jersey.
This is just plain ignorance :(
Its just stupid. She should not be disqualified because of her being a transsexual. A transsexual woman is a woman point blank. People really need to be educated on different people and situations. This is 2012 not the dark ages.
Luckily she lives in Canada, so she has the upper hand.
She made that far.
It’s a beauty pageant…when do those celebrate “natural” anything?
bigots.
Jenny Chewning, correction “hot damn thats a sexy WOMAN” transexual/transgender is just the name of the disorder not the bloody person
SOOOOOOOO dislike!!! that is unbelievable!
o be damn! …she gorgeous
I’m SOOOOOOO confused!!!
She’s gorgeous! they’re just jealous cuz half the other women probly don’t look that good! seriously though, i think this is ridiculous. She is clearly all woman, it shouldn’t matter what body she was born into.
So fucking what. Is she a female? Then she should be able to participate.
This is so discriminatory against transgendered individuals, her legal gender is Female and the only reason she was disqualified is because of surgery, which is complete bullshit, they have no grounds to disqualify her.
She was born in Kenya too?
Beauty is beauty, and she’s that and so much more.
It is comepletely discriminatory. If she is disqualified for altering her body then all of those contestants should be disqualified. You know all those “beauty” queens have had some kind of nip and tuck or lift.
p.r.e.d.j.u.d.i.c.e….
Well, I think it’s kind of sad, but I’m pretty sure that the rules state that you must be a female. I do believe that you are whatever gender you choose to be, but not everyone believes this.
She’s beautiful the way she is… Some people are just jealous because she looks better than their wives. Paha
I covered this one last night She is a woman!
And this is one thing that I don’t like about the LGBT community: Most of you seem to blindly defend other members. It borders on the ridiculous sometimes. I think we shouldn’t focus so much on gender, but the fact is that we do. This is a female exclusive competition, so we shouldn’t freak out because this M2F is getting the boot. She must have known at some point that she could have been found out.
I saw her picture, she’s gorgeous. Let her in, unless the other contestants don’t think they can measure up….
We’re born with either male or female sex organs but our brain is our primary sex organ and it determines our sexuality.
@Matthew:
We’re born with either male or female sex organs but our brain is our primary sex organ and it determines our sexuality. Her sexuality is female. She should be in the pageant, this is totally unfair.
@ Tara: She is legally a female. The proper gender is EVERYTHING that Transgender people strive to be. If LGBTQ Nation doesn’t support matters of gender discrimination for Transgender people, then WTF does the “T” in LGBTQ stand for – tolerance?
@ Matthew McIlnay: Obviously, you’re under the bigoted delusion that the judges discern the winner by DNA samples. After all, Trump is a man of scientific thought just like you, apparently.
@Matthew McIlnay It’s pretty clear that you don’t know very much about this. I am sorry that someone has misinformed you about what it means to be transgendered, but please don’t come around here and spread that misinformation. Even if what you wrote was correct, which it isn’t in this country, it’s a beauty pageant not a dna pageant. Please try to learn about this; it will make your life and spirit better!
I think what people don’t understand is that Transgenderism isn’t a full Out community that Gay, Bi and Lesbian communities enjoy. Transgender people wish to fully integrate into the gender their mind is hard wired to be. I, myself, am a pre-op transgender woman M2F, and I tried my best for a good part of my life to be male, but I could not be, despite my male appearance. The times were different back then, and gender dysphoria was a foreign concept – still is in some respects.
What upsets me about this case in point is that a biologically born woman could alter themselves to compete in a beauty contest, but someone who is not born physically female (enough) is disqualified on the grounds of surgery. Sometimes I feel there is little or no place for the transgendered and/or intersexed people. We don’t celebrate our dilemma because it is personal. We don’t carry pride in telling everyone that we are the way we are because we do want to be the physical gender we were born to. Our label makes us feel like we are perceived as less than the sex we are in our self image. And this kind of wicked discrimination is all too common. If woman of other races and of other sexual preferences can be celebrated as beautiful, let the transgender woman compete like any other woman, because she is a woman like all the other contestants.
If someone has undergone a sex change operation then they are Transsexual, not Transgender. I wish people would understand what it’s like to be trapped in a body that physically doesn’t match how they feel on the inside. I am not a Transsexual, but I can empathise with them.
Sure, this is a slap to the face of the LGBTQ culture, but this is a privately owned competition. She can’t do anything about it. The rules stated that transgender women can’t participate in the competition and she should have respected those rules. This is just another form of free speech and freedom to do as you will with your own property.
She is now biologically a female….and a very beautiful one at that. To say they need to be naturally born a female means nothing. How about the naturally born females who compete that have work done whether it be implants, tummy tucks or the like. If you look at it in that light, sure they were naturally born a female but no longer with what they were born with. To say they can compete and not her is clearly discriminatory!
Look at the end of the article…..D. Trump …..he’s the reason.
totally unfair .. not a reason
@Brandon Twilley, she is legaly female it shouldnt matter, like i said before transgender/transexual is only the medical term its not a gender
they r just jealous cuz she looks better than all of them
:(
any beuty pageant encourages exactly this kind of mentality.
You know she’s not the only woman in the pageant with fake titts so if they want to make rules up about having to be a NATURAL born woman then maybe they shouldn’t allow women who have had nose jobs, boobs jobs, and ass jobs into the pageant at all because that would make it even more fair don’t you think? Otherwise, it’s entirely irrational to kick her out for being “unnatural.” She makes a hotter woman than most women do so why is it a big deal? -___-
Soo close minded!! Haters
Miss Universe and other pageants like it are blatantly sexist anyway, steeped in traditional gender roles and catering to the male gaze. Why participate in and support an organisation that promotes such archaic patriarchal ideals?
here here, Sylvia – agree 100%