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.
 

Deja Vu At Miss Universe 2008

Four Latinas made the five finalists at Miss Universe 2008 along with Miss Russia. Miss Venezuela, Dayana Mendoza was crowned Miss Universe 2008.

So what happened to my Houston homegirl? Unbelievably, for the second year in a row, the Miss USA rep trips during the evening gown competition.

Probably the thought going through Miss USA's Crystle Stewart's mind and all the contestants in this year's Miss Universe pageant in Nha Trang, Vietnam was 'don't fall'.

I'm referring to the image of Miss USA 2007 Rachel Smith falling during the evening gown portion of last year's event in Mexico City and still managing to score high enough to squeak into the five finalists to the disgust of the hometown Mexican crowd. She eventually finished fourth in last year's pageant and 'The Fall' is one of the more popular clips on YouTube.



Just before it happened, host Jerry Springer even alluded to last year's mishap in his banter with co-host Mel B.

Well, it happened again.



Miss USA 2008 Crystle Stewart was probably on track to at least make the five finalists, but had to get past the evening gown competition. This year the Latinas were bringing it. Miss Venezeula, Miss Colombia, Miss Dominican Republic, and Miss Mexico were serving it and scoring high with the international panel of judges. I felt if Crystle could get to the finals and get a decent question that showcased her intelligence and public speaking skills, she'd have a good chance to win.

But that slip cost her big time. Although like Rachel did last year, she got up as if nothing had happened, she only scored an 8.0. I knew that wasn't going to cut it with the Latinas scoring in the low to high 9's and after what happened last year, there was no way she'd be allowed near the five finalists.

The one thing that's already irritating me is the hateraid and snide racist comments that are already coming her way that I've peeped on the Net.

So we'll have to wait another year to see if a Miss USA can finally break the dry spell that we've had at this pageant. The last Miss USA rep to win it was in 1997