Jenna Talackova has received permission to compete as the first transgendered person in the Miss Canada/Miss Universe contest. This is a major accomplishment for the transgendered community, and I sincerely hope and pray that the outcome produces only positive results. I hope Miss Talackova's performance leaves viewers with a favorable impression of transgendered people, and I hope this leads to more acceptance and more opportunities. I want a good role model that is transgendered, and I hope Jenna Talackova is able to fill those shoes.
Two weeks ago, it looked like this milestone in transgender history wasn't even going to happen. Two weeks ago, Jenna had been accepted as a contestant in the pageant, but when word leaked that she was transexual, pageant officials gave her the boot. I'm not critical of pageant officials. They were following the official rules that all the Miss Universe affiliated pageants follow. Still, I was very disappointed. Winning a beauty pageant is the dream of many transgenders, and there is none bigger than Miss Universe. Just being able to compete would add an air of acceptance, that we have truly reached a level of beauty and poise equal to genetic women who undergo years of beauty pageant training. I know transgendered women are beautiful. I want the rest of the world to know it as well.
I wrote about my disappointment a couple weeks ago in this blog and offered this advice: if Mr. Trump didn't allow Jenna to compete, someone else should seize the opportunity to open the doors of their pageant to all who epitomize feminine beauty. I'm an old-fashioned businesswoman at heart. Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. I thought Mr. Trump was sitting on a goldmine.
But I'm also a realist and didn't expect anything to happen. I figured someone would take up the idea, start a little nickle and dime beauty pageant featuring both women and transgenders, and over time would hopefully catch on. Imagine my surprise when Mr. Trump announced days later that Jenna could indeed compete in the Miss Canada contest. You could have knocked me over with a feather when the news broke. This is great news and the ball is back in Jenna's court as she now has to prepare to go head to head with some gorgeous women who have a few more years experience being women. I look forward to seeing the pageant play out.
In the meantime, it seems logical in viewing this news story that Mr. Trump has obviously been keeping up with the latest media reports and gauging public attitude. If he has been gauging public attitude, he obviously has been hearing from the transgendered community as we would obviously be among Jenna's biggest backers. If he has been keeping tabs on how the transgendered community felt, he might have come across this little blog. And if he came across this little blog once, he might possibly come back again in the future. So Mr. Trump, if you ever need a crossdressed musician to work at one of your hotels or casinos, call me!
Kelli
Jenna Talackova is not transgender. At least she doesn't call herself that. She has referred to herself as a "woman with a history." Mostly, she says that she is a woman and female. Which she is.
ReplyDeleteYou can blame the media following GLAAD's style guide for referring to Talackova as "transgender." They didn't ask her.
I don't believe the explicit wording of the rule change has yet been made public, but it will not be about transgender contestants. It will state that any woman who is legally female -- has fully changed her sex, including SRS -- will be able to compete. This really only makes sense, because such women are, well, women.
Sorry to gender variant people, so-called non-ops, and even pre-ops. I hope you haven't gotten your hopes up. You can cheer for Jenna Talackova, but she prompted the rule change because she is female, "natural-born" or otherwise.
I don't think she is even at a particular disadvantage. She said she knew she should have been born a girl when she was four years old. She started hormone therapy at 14 and had SRS at 19. I think she's probably ready for this.
Nice comment Sage. I wonder if anyone is listening.
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