Why Transgender men will not be allowed to compete in the Miss Italy pageant?
Finalists of the Miss Italy 2018 pageant during the 75th Venice Film Festival at the Sala Grande in Venice, Italy on September 7, 2018. (Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)
The Miss Italy beauty pageant has announced that only women of natural origin are allowed to compete, excluding biological transgender men from entering the pageant.
Patricia Miriliani, official patron of the contest, told Radio Cusano that this rule has been in place since the founding of the contest. The Epoch Times is an independent international publication without the influence of any political or economic structures. To continue working, we need your support.
“Since its inception, the competition has included in its rules the provision that you must be a woman from birth. Probably because even then it was assumed that beauty could evolve over time, or that women could undergo changes, or that men could become women," she explained.
Beauty pageants today are using strategies to gain media attention, she said, that she considers "a bit absurd," adding that Miss Italy "will not enter a streak of transgender activism."
She notes that over the years, Miss Italy has relaxed its criteria, allowing things like tattoos, piercings and hair extensions.
Patricia Mirigliani at the 75th Venice Film Festival at the Sala Grande in Venice, Italy on September 7, 2018. (Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)
"It's all part of a new way of talking about women, but we're trying not to promote anything over the top and prioritize aesthetics. Excess is not good," she said.
Her remarks followed the events at the Miss Netherlands beauty pageant, where on July 8 the title was awarded to a declared transgender candidate - the first such contender for the title. Rikkie Kollé, 22, will represent the Netherlands at the Miss Universe 2023 pageant in El Salvador.
Rikkie Kollé reacts after the crowning of the Miss Netherlands beauty pageant winner in Leusden, July 8, 2023. (Evert ElzingaANP/AFP via Getty Images)
The Miss Italy pageant is separate from the Miss Universe Italy pageant, which is held separately and determines Italy's representative in the Miss Universe pageant.
Miss Netherlands will become the second transgender participant in the Miss Universe pageant - the first transgender participant was Angela Ponce, who won the title of Miss Spain in 2018.
Spaniard Angela Ponce competes in the Miss Universe 2018 pageant in Bangkok on December 17, 2018. (Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images)
The Miss Universe beauty pageant, which includes Miss USA, changed its rules in 2012 to allow biological males who identify as transgender to enter.
Over the past two years in the US, two transgender women have won beauty pageants in which they have entered.
Kataluna Enriquez won the Miss Nevada USA pageant in March 2021, becoming the first transgender person to enter and win a beauty pageant in Nevada. Later that year, he entered the Miss USA 2021 pageant.
Miss Nevada USA 2021 Kataluna Enriquez at Garden Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 23, 2021. (Bryan Steffy/Getty Images)
Brian Nguyen won the title of Miss Greater Derry 2023 in November 2022, becoming the first self-identified transgender person to win a title in the Miss America organization, a separate pageant from Miss Universe and Miss USA. In April, Nguyen competed in the Miss New Hampshire 2023 pageant but did not win.