Trans Miss Canada Universe Contestant Barred From Competition

23 year old Jenna Talackova from Vancouver was one of the 65 women chosen to compete in the upcoming Miss Canada Universe pageant in Toronto this May.  But she won't be on the stage for this pageant because she's been disqualified for being a transwoman.

Talackova started HRT at age 15, had SRS at age 19, has competed in trans and cis beauty pageants and competed in 2010's Miss International Queen trans pageant in Thailand.


The Donald Trump owned Miss Universe pageant system instituted the anti-transgender rule in a response to an incident that occurred during the 2001 Miss Universe pageant held in Puerto Rico in which Miss France Elodie Gossuin was accused of being a transwoman.  

Gossuin took and passed a chromosome test and was a semifinalist for the Miss Universe title eventually won by Puerto Rico's Denise Quinones.


China's Chen Lili attempted to compete in the 2004 Miss Universe pageant being held in Ecuador that year with the backing of the Miss Universe China committee who announced on February 23 she would be their delegate. Unfortunately they reversed their decision two days later citing the transphobic Trump instituted 'natural born female' rule.


However, the Miss Universe pageant rules have never specifically addressed SRS or plastic surgery issues, so this disqualification reeks of anti-trans bigotry.  All the pageant rules state is that you be a citizen of the country you are representing, be aged 18-27 and not be pregnant.

And what do you mean when you say a contestant must be a 'natural born female' especially when your pageant rules are nebulous about plastic surgery or SRS?   How are you defining that in your rules?

The bouncing of Talackova from the Miss Canada Universe pageant sparked an online petition that has at the time I compiled this post garnered over 31,000 signatures.  She's also not giving up trying to be reinstated as a competitor for the Miss Universe Canada pageant because she correctly sees this as a human rights issue.

"I will look to turn this situation into a positive so that other people in a similar situation are not discriminated against in the future." she said in a statement.

And I and others hope you are successful in doing so.
 

Draw For 2012 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament Held

There are twelve women's national teams still in the running for the last five spots in the 2012 Olympic women's basketball tournament.  

Our Canadian neighbors and Puerto Rico are two of those squads.  They discovered during the draw held on February 15 what groups they are in and who they will be competing against in the 2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament For Women when it tips off in Ankara, Turkey on June 25-July 1.

The four groups ended up shaking out like this:  

Group A:  Japan, Puerto Rico, Turkey
Group B:  Argentina, Czech Republic, New Zealand
Group C:  Croatia, Korea, Mozambique
Group D:  Canada, France, Mali

Top two teams in each group advance to the June 29 quarterfinals.   The Group A winner will face off against the runner up in Group B.   The Group C winner will face the Group D runner up and the Group D winner will face the runner up team from Group C.

The four quarterfinal round winners will automatically qualifying to go to London and the four losing teams head to the semifinals to begin the knockout competition for the final spot in the Olympic women's basketball tournament.

The Loser in the [A1 v B2] game will face the Loser of the [C1 v D2] game.
The Loser in the [B1 v A2] game will face the Loser of the [D1 v C2] game.

The winners in those semifinal games will face each other in a pressure packed July 1 matchup in Ankara with a trip to London on the line.

The victor in that matchup gets the last qualifying spot and prepares to pack for the 2012 Olympic games and all the once in a lifetime experiences that go with it.  Everyone else goes home and begins their preparations to qualify for the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women in Turkey and the 2016 Olympic women's basketball tournament in Rio.

Canada's Transport Committee Upholds Potentially Trans Discriminatory Canadian Air Travel Regs

North of the border the battle for trans human rights has been focused on a problematic change in Canadian air travel regulations that has the potential to bar some trans people in the Great White North from traveling on airplanes.

Sec 5.2(1)(c) of the ID screening regs of Aeronautics Act "An air carrier shall not transport a passenger if the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents."

The fight against the regulation moved to Ottawa and the Transport Committee.

In a glaring example Canadian trans people of why elections matter to marginalized communities, NDP MP Olivia Chow's motion to rescind the problematic regulation was defeated on a 6-5 vote with all the Conservafools voting NO and the Liberals and NDP members voting YES to rescind it.

Your next step may be to apply for a sex unspecific Canadian passport which meets International Civil Aviation Organization standards and Transport Canada claims they are in compliance with. 

Stay tuned.  This is going to get interesting.
 

Another Trans Rights Poll For Y'all To Get Busy On

In the wake of the ongoing concern about whether a revised air transportation regulation actually bans trans Canadians from flying, the CBC website has a poll question up asking if transgender Canadians should be protected by a parliamentary bill.

There have been 1763 people who have weighed in on this as of the time I compiled this post and so far the YES votes outnumber the NO and I'M NOT SURE ones  

You know what my answer to that is, and to make sure the Harper Government and the haters of our trans cousins get the message, take some time to help our Canadian trans cousins out.