‘Miss Italy’ bans transgender competitors from beauty pageant: ‘Must be a woman from birth’

Transgender women are being banned from competing in the “Miss Italy” competition with the patron of the beauty pageant making the reasoning crystal clear,  declaring contestants “must be a woman from birth.”

“Lately, beauty contests have been trying to make the news by also using strategies that I think are a bit absurd,” Miss Italy Official Patron Patrizia Mirigliani commented during an interview with Radio Cusano, according to Il Primato Nazionale.

“Since it was born, my competition has foreseen in its regulation the clarification according to which one must be a woman from birth. Probably because, even then, it was foreseen that beauty could undergo modifications, or that women could undergo modifications, or that men could become women,” Mirigliani noted to the Italian media outlet.

Newsweek reported that “the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute conducted a poll in 2016 to gauge worldwide support for transgender individuals. The poll found among 23 countries, that a majority in 21 countries ‘support policies banning discrimination against transgender people.'”

That was seven years ago and the sentiment seems to be changing if the Netherlands and Spain are any indication.

“Majorities in 15 countries support allowing access to public restrooms consistent with a transgender person’s gender identity,” the poll also found which is a sentiment that has also apparently shifted.

In that particular poll, when the level of support for transgender rights was measured, Russia ranked lowest, while Spain ranked highest.

Mirigliani’s blunt comments come just weeks after Rikkie Valerie Kollé was crowned the first transgender “Miss Netherlands.” According to NPR, Kollé will go on to represent her country in the 2023 Miss Universe beauty pageant.

“I DID IT !!!!!” Kollé declared in an Instagram post on July 9. “Yes I am a trans woman and I would like to share my story, but I am also Rikkie and that is what counts for me. I did this on my own strength and enjoyed every moment.”

“Wherever you are in the world, I want to be there for you and be the example that I myself missed as a little me,” the contestant stated in the caption for the post.

Huffington Post Italy reported that Mirigliani said that while she was happy that the Miss Netherlands contest included transgender women, she made a point of mentioning that Italy’s contest rules will not change to allow transgender women to compete.

In 2012, the Miss Universe contest announced that it was changing its rules to allow transgender women to compete in its pageants.

“We have a long history of supporting equality for all women and this was something we took very seriously,” the president of the Miss Universe contest, Paula Shugart, proclaimed at the time, according to Reuters.

During the 2018 Miss Universe pageant, the first transgender contestant to ever compete was Angela Ponce. She won the Miss Spain competition.

“This is for you, for those who have no visibility, no voice, because we all deserve a world of respect, inclusion and freedom… And today I am here, proudly representing my nation, all women and human rights,” Ponce asserted on Instagram after entering the pageant.

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