Miss Italy organizers defend ban on trans contestants
Organizers of Miss Italy have defended their ban on transgender contestants after the entrepreneur behind the competition appeared to criticize other beauty pageants’ efforts to welcome trans women.
“Lately, beauty contests have been trying to make the news by … using strategies that in my opinion are a bit absurd,” the pageant’s official patron, Patrizia Mirigliani, said in a recent radio interview. “Since it was founded, my contest has stipulated in its regulation (that contestants)… must be a woman from birth.”
The comments — which have been widely reported, and have become a source of controversy for the pageant — came shortly after Rikkie Kollé became the first openly trans contestant to win the title of Miss Netherlands.
(Miss Italy is not affiliated with the Miss Universe organization, and Kollé will compete against the winner of the 2023 Miss Italy Universe pageant, a separate contest.)
Mirigliani, who is the daughter of Miss Italy’s former head Enzo Mirigliani, later told radio station RTL 102.5 that her comments had been “misunderstood.” But in a statement provided to CNN on Tuesday, the Miss Italy organization reiterated that “currently, the competition is open to candidates of ‘female sex since birth.’’
Organizers did not respond to CNN’s query on how the eligibility criteria was enforced. Nor did they explicitly rule out future rule changes, saying in the statement that the contest has “always known how to adapt to the times and has never been rigid on any front” but that “the subject (of trans women participating) at this moment does not constitute a priority.”
Organizers of Miss Italy have defended their ban on transgender contestants after the entrepreneur behind the competition appeared to criticize other beauty pageants’ efforts to welcome trans women. “Lately, beauty contests have been trying to make the news by … using strategies that in my opinion are a bit absurd,” the pageant’s official patron, Patrizia…