Sheena Monnin Still Owes The Donald And Miss Universe $5 Million

Remember Sheena Monnin, the transphobic 2012 Miss Pennsylvania pageant queen who threw shade at Jenna Talackova and made the sour grapes tinged accusation the Miss USA pageant was rigged? 

The Donald as the co-owner of the Miss Universe pageant system sued, alleging that Monnin's accusation cost them a $5 million fee from a potential 2013 pageant sponsor and she lost a December arbitration hearing.

She also inserted herself in the at the time news surrounding Jenna Talackova competing for the 2012 Miss Canada Universe crown by shadily using her as a excuse to resign the Miss Pennsylvania Universe 2012 crown June 4 after she failed to make the Top 15 in the 2012 Miss USA pageant won by eventual Miss Universe Olivia Culpo.

“I refuse to be part of a pageant system that has so far and so completely removed itself from its foundational principles as to allow and support natural born males to compete in it,” Monnin's resignation email said. “This goes against ever moral fiber of my being.”

Well, she's in the news again because she tried to get the adverse arbitrator decision against her overturned and failed. 

U.S. District Court Judge J. Paul Oetken upheld the arbitrator’s decision that Monnin sought to have overturned on the grounds that the arbitrator overstepped his authority, his decision disregarded law, and she didn’t know the arbitration hearing was taking place.

Judge Oetken, who was appointed by President Obama to the federal bench in July 2011 said otherwise.  Judge Oetken BTW is the first openly gay man appointed to the federal bench, so I found it it deliciously ironic he received this case.

And yeah, karma is a rhymes with itch.    Miss Moral Fiber 2012 still owes The Donald and the Miss Universe pageant system $5 million.

What, Fox Noise hasn't called you for a fembot commentating gig yet?  Gee, I wonder why? 

Openly MRKH Contestant In Miss USA 2013

We won't have a girl like us competing in the Miss USA 2013 pageant next month because Kylan Wenzel unfortunately didn't win the Miss California USA pageant.

I'll still have somebody else to root for besides the women of color and my Lone Star state representative when I watch the pageant on June 16 and see who  Miss USA 2012 Nana Meriwether crowns as her successor. 
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My friends in the intersex community are excited to learn that Miss Michigan USA Jaclyn Shultz is one of the 51 women vying for the Miss USA crown.

Jaclyn has a condition that affects one in 4500 newborn girls called Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome.   MRKH affects the reproductive system and causes the vagina and uterus to be underdeveloped or absent    Women with MRKH syndrome have a female chromosome pattern (46,XX), functioning ovaries, conventionally developed external female external genitalia and breast and pubic hair development.

In Jaclyn's case, as she mentions in her Miss USA profile, "Jaclyn is the proud spokeswoman for A Beautiful You MRKH Foundation. Since she was born without a uterus, this non-profit is close to her heart."

She has been working to spread awareness about MRKH and provide support to girls and women across the globe who are diagnosed with it. 

As Claudia Actorino said in the opening sentence of her post about Jaclyn, 'intersex bodies are beautiful.'

I wish Jaclyn the best of luck in the upcoming Miss USA 2013 pageant and continued success in her ongoing mission of spreading awareness about MRKH.


H/T  Claudia Actorino- 
 

Miss Philippines Universe Entry Deadline Passes With No Trans Applicant

If I had to put money on which national pageant organization would be the first to have an out trans woman on the Miss Universe stage representing their nation, the Philippines would be in my top three. 

The others in case you're wondering are Thailand and Brazil. 

I say that because as me and my homegirl like us Naomi Fontanos are well aware of and discuss from time to time, the Philippines and Thailand take their beauty pageants seriously.  

Those two nations are also home to the most prestigious and internationally renowned trans pageants for their local trans women in Miss Tiffany Universe in Thailand and the Amazing Philippine Beauties.

Jenna Talackova brought the glass pageant ceiling down and took out the odious 'natural born women' rule that was used to bar transwomen from competing in Miss Universe system pageants.

Since then the Miss Universe franchise pageants are being given extra scrutiny from inside and outside the trans community to determine if any 18-27 year old trans women exercise their option to enter and attempt to win their national pageant and qualify for Miss Universe 2013.

Jenna made it to the Top 15 in Miss Canada Universe 2012 a few months ago.  Kylan Wenzel was one of 229 contestants who recently attempted to win the always tough Miss California USA pageant.

As of this writing 19 women have already qualified for Miss Universe 2013  with more national pageants yet to be conducted including the Miss USA 2013 one in June.  

There won't be a trans contestant at Miss USA 2013 because all 50 state pageants and the Miss District of Columbia one have been conducted, so the first trans Miss USA contestant is on hold until 2014..   

But moving to the Philippines.   They had Janine Tugonon finish as a first runner up in the 2012 Miss Universe competition and Kevin Balot bring the 2012 Miss Universal Queen title back to this pageant mad nation from Thailand. 

24 year old Miriam Jimenez was a semifinalist in that same 2012 Miss International Queen trans pageant, and there were unconfirmed rumors that she had entered Binibining Pilipinas that were posted on several blogs.

But when the January 22 deadline passed to submit entry forms they turned out to be false.  Ms. Jimenez sad to say won't be competing this year.

I was hoping the rumors were true along with many of my transpinay sisters and girls like us around the world, but looks like it's also wait until 2014 to see if a transpinay steps up and attempts to enter Binibining Pilipinas.

And in the meantime, still more than a few nations like Singapore who opened their pageant doors to trans contestants who haven't conducted their national pageants yet.   

Kylan, You're Still A Winner In Our Eyes

Miss California USA 2013 was crowned last night, and it's safe to say it wasn't our girl like us Kylan Wenzel.

We would have known if that had happened because it would have shunted most of the Golden Globe Awards media overkill coverage to a secondary story.

The website for the Miss California USA pageant hasn't been updated yet as I write this with Mabelynn Capeluj's photo and still haven't discovered as of yet if Kylan made it to the 20 semifinalists that competed last night.

But that's not important right now because even if she didn't, she made a dream of hers happen and while doing so made a little trans history along the way 

We are proud of you Kylan for following your dreams, representing us with class and dignity and giving all the girls like us in the States and around the world something positive to talk about this past weekend..  

Know that you're a winner in our eyes.   I wish you much success in whatever you choose to do from this point forward. 

Kylan Steps On The Miss California USA Stage Today!

Kylan Wenzel makes history today when she steps onto the Pasadena Convention Center stage along with 229 other contestants vying for the Miss California USA title.

She's the first ever out trans person in the United States to compete in the Miss Universe pageant system and has the goal of attempting to become the first trans Miss USA and trans Miss Universe. 

But the first and hardest leg of the journey happens today as she tries to become one of the 20 women left standing for Sunday's semifinals.

She was interviewed on Anderson Cooper's talk show yesterday, and here's the video from it.



Good luck, Kylan!

Meet Kylan, The First Ever Trans Miss California USA Pageant Contestant

Remember when I wrote the post last week stating that we not get our hopes up of seeing a trans contestant in a state level Miss USA system pageant, Miss USA or Miss Universe this year?  

Scratch that.  

The 2013 Miss California USA pageant starts its preliminary competition tomorrow, and one of the 229 women competing in this year's edition of the pageant at the Pasadena Convention center will be a girl like us.

When 26 year old Kylan Arianna Wenzel of Century City, CA noted that transwomen were now eligible to compete in the Miss Universe pageant system thanks to Jenna Talackova breaking that pageant glass ceiling in Canada, Kylan decided to go for her long held dream of being a pageant contestant confidently attempting to win the trifecta of Miss California USA, Miss USA and Miss Universe . 

She left her job as a Jamba Juice shift manager and moved up her surgery date six months to have it in August 2012 in order to compete in this year's event.

“The first time I watched a beauty pageant was when I was 11, in 1997, when Miss USA won Miss Universe. And ever since then, it’s kind of been implanted in my brain,” Wenzel told Frontiers during a January 3 phone interview. “I wasn’t sure how it would happen for me, but it was something I put out there.

“You have to put it out to the universe—what you want to do—and you have to follow up on it,” Wenzel continued. “So, let’s say for transgender individuals, even if you haven’t had your sex change and you’re not sure, you have to act like you are Miss Universe or you are the woman you see yourself being. And you do that in everyday life. So I just worked really hard. I saved for surgery. I started getting procedures early like laser hair removal—things like that. It really is about believing in yourself. But you also need people to believe in you, because you can’t really get that far, sometimes, when you don’t have that kind of support.”

Wenzel's already made some trans history by being the first out transperson to enter a state level pageant anywhere in the United States and the first trans Miss California USA contestant.  

Her attempt to win Miss California USA starts in tomorrow's preliminary round in which the 229 contestants will be whittled down to the 20 semifinalists who will compete in the Pasadena Convention Center on Sunday, January 13 starting at 4 PM PST.  

If she does emerge victorious, we'll get to see her attempt to make more pageant history in June when she will represent California at the Miss USA pageant.

But first things first.   Good luck this weekend, Kylan! 

May Be A While Before We See A Trans Miss Universe

While trans women aged 18-27 now have the opportunity starting this year in the Miss Universe pageant system to enter the pageant and become Miss Universe (and those of us beyond competition age are happy for you) bear in mind it may take a few years before you not only see a trans Miss USA crowned, but a trans Miss Universe.

The Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants have been around since 1952, but it took until 1977 for an African descended woman to win Miss Universe (Janelle Commissiong of Trinidad and Tobago) and an African-American woman until 1995 (Chelsi Smith) to win both the Miss USA and Miss Universe titles.

And Texas bragging alert, Chelsi was from the Houston metro area as well.

As far as the Miss USA color line goes, Jayne Harrison made it to the top 15 as Miss Ohio in 1970.  Future Oscar winning actress and another Miss Ohio Halle Berry fell just short of making that history as a first runner up for the Miss USA crown in 1986. 

Four years later Carole Gist achieved that historic breakthrough win as the first ever African-American Miss USA.  She was also the first ever African-American Miss Michigan USA and nearly made it a clean sweep as the first ever African-American Miss Universe. 

Gist finished first runner up in the 1990 Miss Universe competition later that year in Los Angeles.  

So American trans family, be prepared for a possibly long wait until we see a trans woman crowned Miss USA or Miss Universe.  While many of the national Miss Universe pageants will accept the new open competition rules, there are some notable transphobic holdouts such as Mexico and Venezuela. 

But the bottom line as Jenna Talackova proved last year, to have a chance to win your national crown and be in the Miss Universe mix you have to be in the competition in the first place. 

For an American trans woman, first she would have to win her statewide pageant to get to the Miss USA stage, then win that pageant to get to Miss Universe.  If you live in competitive and populous pageant states like California or Texas that's a tall order. 

Those two states combined have won it 15 times with the Texas rep winning it 9 times.  If that transwoman is a Texan, she will find herself in a pageant that has more contestants in it than Miss USA (51) or Miss Universe (70-90 on average).  There have been years in which the Miss Texas USA pageant has had over 100 women competing in it.

The odds get a little longer if that transwoman in question also happens to be a transwoman of color. 

If that is your dream trans woman of color, go for it.  Prove me wrong.   Nothing would make me happier than to write the post announcing you to the world as a Miss Universe pageant winner and seeing current Miss Universe Olivia Culpo or a future one crown you.. And don't forget, they offer you a college scholarship along with all those cool prizes and that one year contract.  

And as Crystle Stewart and others former titleholders can tell you, it can lead to other media opportunities as well.

I'm hearing that some transwomen in various countries may attempt to enter their national pageants in order to qualify for Miss Universe 2013 and I wish them the best of luck in doing so.  

But seeing a transwoman wear that crown may take a while.     


TransGriot Note: First photo is Janelle Commissiong  middle one is Halle Berry, and the last photo is of former Miss USA and Miss Texas USA Crystle Stewart wearing her Miss Texas crown.  .

Trans Teen, Beauty Queen

I posted in the wake of Jenna Talackova's attempt to win Miss Canada Universe and make it to Miss Universe 2012 the story of Jackie Green's attempt to win Miss England. 

Documentary cameras were following her quest to do so, and here it is.

Karmic Wheel Going In Both Directions For Two Miss USA Contestants

Remember back in June when the buzz and drama surrounding Jenna Talackova's participation in the Miss Canada Universe pageant was still on the minds of folks inside and outside the pageant world?

People were divided into two camps over the Miss Universe organization's decision to allow trans women to compete starting in 2013. 

That drama over trans women being allowed to compete showed up during the 2012 Miss USA pageant as Miss Rhode Island Olivia Culpo, one of the five finalists this year was asked a question on the trans pageant competition issue..

Would it be fair for a person born a man to be named Miss Universe after becoming a woman?


Her answer::  

"I do think it would be fair..." because "there are so many people who have a need to change for a happier life. I do accept that because I believe it's a free country."

Well, she went on to be named Miss USA and on December 19 became the first American in 15 years to be chosen Miss Universe since Hawaii's Brook Mahelani Lee won the title in 1997.

Meanwhile one of the transphobes on the other side of it, former Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin, made these sour grapes tinged comments when she gave up her crown on June 5 after failing to make it into the Top 15.

"I refuse to be part of a pageant system that has so far and so completely removed itself from its foundational principles as to allow and support natural born males to compete in it. This goes against ever moral fiber of my being. I believe in integrity, high moral character, and fair play, none of which are part of this system any longer."


Miss Moral Fiber 2012 went on to put her pumps in her mouth and claim the Miss USA pageant was rigged.  Miss Universe organization officials asserted Monnin's allegations on Facebook and NBC's "Today" show cost them a $5 million fee from a potential 2013 sponsor.  The Donald sued after giving Monnin 24 hours to retract the statements.
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 The case went to arbitration and Sheena Monnin now owes the Miss Universe organization $5 million dollars after she lost her defamation suit.   A judge found she did defame the organization and awarded damages. 

Hmm.   Let's compare and contrast shall we?   The transwoman you hated on (and by extension the worldwide trans community) made it to the Top 16 of her national pageant, tied for the Miss Congeniality award with three other women, and did so with dignity and class while having the world's media focused on her. 

Meanwhile you didn't even make it out of the preliminary rounds of the Miss USA pageant and showed no class while doing so.

Jenna Talackova and Olivia Culpo have more class in their pinky fingers than Sheena Monnin has in her entire nekulturny body, and the karmic wheel has smiled upon both of them. 

Meanwhile, we are observing in real time what the karmic wheel is doing unto Sheena.
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Miss USA 2012 Is A Sistah!

If you've watched pageants, you've heard the hosts say their spiel before they announce the winner how important the first runner up position is if the winner of said pageant can't continue in their duties, et cetera.  

In the wake of Olivia Culpo winning Miss Universe 2012 on Tuesday, that meant the first runner up gets to ascend to become Miss USA.

In that competition back in June 27 year old Miss Maryland USA Nana Meriwether was the first runner up.  She now moves up to become Miss USA 2012 and the sixth African-American woman to wear the Miss USA crown.  

Congratulation Nana! 

She'll handle the Miss USA duties until she crowns her successor in June 2013. 

Miss International Queen 2012 Is....

After Nigeria's Sahhara got screwed for the 2011 title and it exposed a problematic pattern of dark skinned women and African descended ones not being chosen as the winners for the pageant along with transpinays, in protest yours truly was going to eschew writing a post about the 2012 Miss International Queen contest as had been my blog's tradition.

The controversy over the questionable win of Thailand's Sirapassorn 'Sammy' Atthayakorn over 1st runner up Sahhara and 2nd runner up Margaret (another transpinay representing Lebanon) sparked so much online drama that the Amazing Philippine Beauties pageant organizers considered starting a rival international trans pageant in Manila in the wake of the kerfluffle and transpinays were prepping a boycott of Miss International Queen event..

But when 20 year old Kevin Balot of the Philippines became the first transpinay to win the Miss International Queen title in the nearly decade long history of the event on November 2, had to write something about the groundbreaking win that my transpinay sisters had been anxiously waiting for.  Jessika Simoes of Brazil was 1st runner up fo this year's edition of the Pattaya based event while Thailand's Panvilas Mongkol was 2nd runner up.

What's going to be interesting to observe is whether the Miss International Queen pageant continues to draw contestants in light of the fact the Miss Universe pageant system is opening its doors to transwomen in 2013 and other nations such as Brazil are starting their own national trans pageant events like the one that have existed in the States, Thailand and the Philippines. .

Congratulations Kevin for winning Miss International Queen 2012!

Miss Canada Universe 2012 Is A Sistah!

While I didn't get to see Jenna Talackova take the 2012 Miss Canada Universe crown, I'll have another reason to watch the Miss Universe pageant besides seeing if Miss USA finally wins the title for the first time in over a decade or booing Donald Chump Trump when it's televised from Las Vegas on December 19.

I'll have even more of a reason to watch in 2013.  The Miss Universe pageant system will be open to trans women, so it should be interesting to see if any trans woman wins their national pageant next year.

But back to discussing Canadian pageant developments.

If you ever wondered if the first runner up ever get to compete or move up to become the main titleholder, yes they do for various reasons.

Turns out Miss Canada Universe 2012 Sahar Biniaz due to hurting her foot days before she was supposed to arrive in Las Vegas December 2-4 for the rehearsals and the Miss Universe preliminary competition that will take place December 13, will not be able to represent the Great White North.
 

Because of Biniaz's injury, the Miss Canada Universe pageant's first runner up, 24 year old Adwoa Yamoah from Calgary will take her place as Canada's representative in this pageant.   The 1.75m beauty (5'9") will join the other 88 women from around the world competing for the Miss Universe 2012 title and be crowned by outgoing Miss Universe 2011 queen Leila Lopes..

I'll have to double check that, but I believe Yamoah also becomes the first African descended woman to represent Canada at Miss Universe.  She was born in Accra, Ghana and moved to Canada as a child.  

So yep, may have to put down the Stars and Stripes and root for the north of the border contestant even though Miss USA hasn't won it since 1999. 

Good luck Adwoa.

Miss Transsexual Brazil 2012 Pageant

Brazil has been a good news, bad news place for our transsisters living there.   While this emerging South American economic power nation has free SRS coverage in their national health plan, is the home of trans supermodel Lea T and has had transwomen openly walking the runways at Rio's fashion week since Roberta Close first did so in the 1980's, at the same time it has seen a horrific spike in anti-trans violence and murders aimed at our Brazilian trans sisters.

Back on October 30 the first ever Miss Transsexual Brazil 2012 pageant happened in Rio de Janeiro, and here's some video from AFP documenting what happened during that first ever pageant  

Miss Universe Pageant's Transphobic Holdouts

We are indebted to Jenna Talackova for cracking a glass ceiling and helping bringing down the odious 'natural born women' rule that discriminated against transwomen like her who wished to participate in their national Miss Universe system pageants. 

Thanks to Jenna's efforts the glass pageant ceiling has been shattered.  Policy changes have been implemented that will allow transwomen to compete in their national Miss Universe pageants starting in 2013.

Transwomen around the world who have dreamed about entering their national pageants just like any other cis woman and possibly winning it now can start working to make that dream come true. 

There are still some transphobic Miss Universe national franchise holdouts upset about the rule change and coincidentally both that have publicly stated so are Roman Catholic countries.  Thanks to the efforts of STRAP in facilitating an intelligent debate on the subject, the Philippines will not be one of them. 

Until STRAP got their formidable selves involved and changed the climate to a 'just the facts' debate, the Philippine franchise holders and public opinion was leaning in that direction. Banning transwomen from competing would have been problematic and a travesty in light of the fact the Manila based Amazing Philippine Beauties trans pageant takes place in that nation .

Mexico is one of the Miss Universe national organizations that announced on April 12 they would bar the participation of trans women.

"The rules have been followed since 1994 and it will continue in this respect as it has throughout the history of the competition," according to celebrity news website, Celestrellas and Univision.  

You're still hiding behind that 'natural born women' rule which even The Donald knew wouldn't stand up in court and even the Miss Universe system isn't backing.  So what's your excuse now to justify continuing to bar Mexican transwomen from competing? 

You may want to reconsider that hardheaded stance in light of the fact Erica Andrews won the 2006 Miss International Queen trans pageant in Thailand a few years ago.

The other holdout is Venezuela, which transphobically huffed, puffed and said the same thing.   Their pageant will be held on August 30 in Caracas and as of this writing there will be no transwomen on the stage.  

According to the Global Beauties pageant blog, Osmel Sousa, the president of the Miss Venezuela organization said during an April 24 press conference that "The Christian Venezuelan people would never accept the participation of transgenders in the Miss Venezuela contest.” 

There's a lot of things Christians 'would never accept' back in the day, Mr. Sousa.  There are some little c 'Christians' in my country who still think I'm 3/5ths of a human being and as a descendant of slaves shouldn't have United States citizenship.  

Stop hiding behind scripture to mask your transphobia.   Besides, your surgically enhanced cis women haven't been getting the job done lately at the Miss Universe competition stage since 2009 and the major reason you won in 2008 was Miss USA Crystle Stewart slipping and falling during the evening gown competition with her strongest event yet to come. .You may need to let some transwomen in to help y'all step up your beauty pageant game.

But here's hoping the transphobic Miss Universe holdouts eventually relent and allow the transwomen in their respective nations to compete for their national and Miss Universe crowns.

Sheena Monnin's Faith Based Sour Grapes

Been following the twists and turns of former Miss Pennsylvania USA Sheena Monnin flapping her gums in the wake of her June 4 resignation over so far unsubstantiated allegations that the 2012 Miss USA pageant was 'fixed'.  She also claimed her resignation was based on her right wing 'moral fiber' belief that trans contestants should not be permitted to compete in the pageant.

Yeah, right  Miss Thang.   . 

The Donald is suing her for defamation on that pageant fixing claim and Miss USA officials released the text of the resignation e-mail they received from her.the day after the pageant was held in Las Vegas on June 3.

Can you say transphobia?   Thought you could.

“I refuse to be part of a pageant system that has so far and so completely removed itself from its foundational principles as to allow and support natural born males to compete in it. This goes against ever (sic) moral fiber of my being.”

Yo, Sheena, what the hell is a 'natural born male'?  Never heard of that.

However, bigotry and discrimination goes against my moral fiber. It disgusts me even more when I see people like you who sanctimoniously express transphobic bigotry try to hide behind the Bible while doing so. 

I wonder if your 27 year old hypocritical azz would have resigned if you'd won the Miss USA title instead of Olivia Culpo.  With the revelations coming out about you I thank God you didn't. 

I don't know why you're complaining about transwomen being allowed to compete in the Miss Universe pageant system when there were none competing in this year's USA pageant because the long needed rule change happened far too late for any transwoman to enter it.

Sheena, let's continue to tell it like it T-I-S is shall we? Seems to me you're drinking hateraid from 55 gallon drums when it comes to #girlslikeus. 

Hmm.  You were one of two of the oldest women in this year's event at age 27 and couldn't even crack the top 16 in a 51 woman pageant field consisting of all 'natural born women' while South Carolina's Erika Powell, the other 27 year old contestant did.  

And you threw catty shade at Miss South Carolina for doing so. 

Hating on Jenna Talackova because she's 24, made the Top 16 in Canada's national pageant and shared the Miss Congeniality award with three other women?  Jenna Talackova has more class in her pinky finger than you have in your entire nekulturny body

Makes me wonder what your reaction would have been if the Miss USA 2012 pageant had a open transwoman entered much less made it to the top 16.   

Oops, never mind.  Based on your previous transphobic comment I can reasonably deduce that and the transphobic crap you would have tweeted from backstage.  I submit it wouldn't have been as compassionate as you claim you are on the Miss Pennsylvania website, have exhibited on this issue or toward fellow Miss USA 2012 contestants.
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I'd daresay than when the Miss USA-Universe pageant system finally does have a trans contestant competing in it, I'm confident that the trans contestant in question will probably go much farther and with a lot more character, class and moral fiber than you exhibited in this 2012 edition.

Shannon, here's some career advice for you.  Why don't you apply at Fox Noise since they need fresh fembots with 'moral fiber' and jacked up conservative attitudes to stick in front of their cameras?

Miss USA 2012 Says Trans Competitor Would Be Okay

Was focused on watching other things besides the Miss USA 2012 pageant Sunday night but was happy to hear about what the new Miss USA Olivia Culpo from Rhode Island had to say during her five finalist Q&A.  

The question she was asked was: would it be fair for a person born a man to be named Miss Universe after becoming a woman?

Y'all know what the TransGriot and a majority of the transfeminine community's answer to that question would be, but we weren't on the stage standing in Ms Culpo's pumps competing for a shot at the Miss USA Universe title

And she proved (so far) she isn't Carrie Prejean or a radfem.

"I do think it would be fair..." because "there are so many people who have a need to change for a happier life. I do accept that because I believe it's a free country."

Time will tell how much of an ally she is to our community, but she definitely is well on the way to making a lot of trans female friends.   The opening of the Miss Universe system starting in 2013 to transwomen is still a contentious subject as cis women have come down on both sides of the issue.    

But thanks to Miss USA 2012 for standing up for fairness.

Jackie Comes Close, But No Miss England Crown

Jackie Green's bid to become the first trans Miss England fell short last night when she didn't make the finals of that pageant.  While she's disappointed about the result as are all of us around the world who were rooting for her, bear in mind she did make it to the semifinals..

This also comes a week after Jenna Talackova's bid to become Miss Canada also fell short of the finalist round of the Miss Universe Canada pageant, although she did capture the Miss Congeniality award.

"Miss England is a prestigious competition. I’d love to win.” Green remarked in a recent newspaper interview.

But Ms.Green isn't in this pageant just for the crown or the glamor.   She's got another purpose in mind as she competes.  She's hoping to use the public platform of the pageant as a way to raise awareness about  bullying and transgender issues.


Ms. Green stated she would make another run at the Miss England crown next year, and here's hoping that she has a better result when she does.

Good Luck Tonight, Jackie!

Across The Pond tonight, Jackie Green will take the stage and attempt to become the first transperson to become Miss England.   

She was voted through to tonight's Miss England pageant semifinals earlier this month.  If she does go on to win this event would represent her country at the Miss World pageant that will be held in China

Good luck tonight, Jackie.   Know your transsisters all over the planet are rooting for you.

You're Still A Winner In Our Eyes, Jenna

With the eyes of the world focused on Toronto for a historic finals night for the 2012 Miss Canada Universe pageant, 23 year old Jenna Talackova was not only competing for the right to represent her nation in the Miss Universe event in December, but an entire worldwide community of transwomen.

She did make it to the 12 semifinalist round, but unfortunately not to the five finalists one.

But as I've said for a few days now, even if she didn't walk out with the Miss Canada Universe crown last night and I presume she's probably disappointed she didn't, she's still a winner.  

Talackova fought for her place in this pageant after being unjustly disqualified by the bogus and transphobic 'natural born womna' rule.  Because she did so she eventually broke through a glass ceiling that allowed her to be on stage with 64 other Canadian women and will make it  easier (we hope) for the next transwoman who wishes to compete in her Miss Universe system national pageant.

In the process of tenaciously fighting for her dream to happen, she gave transwomen around the world an opportunity to jump start educational conversations about who we are, how transphobic and wrong that rule was and what we are capable of doing if we're just given the opportunity to try.

It's never easy to be a trailblazer, and Jenna did so with class and dignity.   Her sister contestants agree with me since she was one of three women who tied for the Miss Congeniality award for this 2012 pageant. 

It'll be interesting moving forward from this date to see what transpires next for Jenna in the future and see if she makes come true her stated goals of becoming a Victoria's Secret model and getting the swimsuit cover of Sports Illustrated.

I have the feeling that this determined young woman somehow will make it happen and expand the boundaries of what is possible for #girlslikeus.

You're still a winner in our eyes, Jenna.   

Good Luck Jackie!

Jenna Talackova isn't the only transwoman competing to wear a pageant crown this month.   So is Britain's Jackie Green.

If her name sounds familiar to you, it's because two years ago Jackie was in the news as the youngest person ever in Britain to undergo sex reassignment surgery.  While it is covered under Britain's National Health Service, the minimum age is 18.  

Jackie flew to Thailand because at the time minors were allowed to have SRS until the Medical Council of Thailand enacted changes in 2009 that pushed the minimum age to 18, required HRT and living in the desired gender for a year.

Jackie underwent SRS on her 16th birthday and happily started living her life. 




The now 18 year old Jackie was spotted by talent scouts at Britain's Next Top Model  in London that  encouraged her to enter the Miss England pageant and were unaware of her trans history.

She wowed the judges and got enough public support to make the semifinals of the Miss England pageant that will take place on May 30.   If she wins it, she would represent England at the 63rd Miss World pageant in China and be poised to make some trans history in the process.   

However, at this point and time the Miss World pageant officials have yet to announce whether they would follow the example of the Miss Universe system and allow transwomen to compete.

But good luck to Jackie and hope she does end up with the crown.