Transsexual booted from pageant
Source: Agencies |
March 31, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BEACH shots depict her as every inch a curvaceous beauty queen.
But 23-year-old Jenna Talackova was born male, and that led the organizers to disqualify her last week as a finalist in the 61st Miss Universe Canada pageant taking place in May. The rules of the contest run by the Donald Trump organization say entrants must be "naturally born" females.
The Vancouver woman underwent a sex change four years ago.
"She did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form," said a statement from Miss Universe Canada. "We do, however, respect her goals, determination and wish her the best."
The pageant's New York-based parent backed the decision. "After review, organizers discovered that Jenna Talackova falsified her application and did not meet the necessary requirements to compete in the 2012 Miss Universe Canada pageant," a statement said.
The disqualification has won Talackova widespread sympathy and raised the question of whether the pageant has the right to decide who is female.
Talackova is obtaining legal counsel and is expected to make a statement next week, said her spokesman, Rory Richards.
Her change of gender was hardly a secret before the event because she had competed in the 2010 Tiffany Miss International Queen Competition for transgendered and transsexual women in Pattaya, Thailand. In a video interview for that pageant, she said she had lived her life as a female since age 4, began hormone therapy at 14 and changed sex at 19.
"I regard myself as a woman with a history," she said.
Connie McNaughton, Miss World Canada in 1984 and first runner-up for the world crown, called the decision outdated and discriminatory.
Some countries have their candidates undergo cosmetic surgery, she said, so what's wrong with sex-change surgery "because in your heart and soul you believe yourself to be a woman?"
But 23-year-old Jenna Talackova was born male, and that led the organizers to disqualify her last week as a finalist in the 61st Miss Universe Canada pageant taking place in May. The rules of the contest run by the Donald Trump organization say entrants must be "naturally born" females.
The Vancouver woman underwent a sex change four years ago.
"She did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form," said a statement from Miss Universe Canada. "We do, however, respect her goals, determination and wish her the best."
The pageant's New York-based parent backed the decision. "After review, organizers discovered that Jenna Talackova falsified her application and did not meet the necessary requirements to compete in the 2012 Miss Universe Canada pageant," a statement said.
The disqualification has won Talackova widespread sympathy and raised the question of whether the pageant has the right to decide who is female.
Talackova is obtaining legal counsel and is expected to make a statement next week, said her spokesman, Rory Richards.
Her change of gender was hardly a secret before the event because she had competed in the 2010 Tiffany Miss International Queen Competition for transgendered and transsexual women in Pattaya, Thailand. In a video interview for that pageant, she said she had lived her life as a female since age 4, began hormone therapy at 14 and changed sex at 19.
"I regard myself as a woman with a history," she said.
Connie McNaughton, Miss World Canada in 1984 and first runner-up for the world crown, called the decision outdated and discriminatory.
Some countries have their candidates undergo cosmetic surgery, she said, so what's wrong with sex-change surgery "because in your heart and soul you believe yourself to be a woman?"
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