News

Transgender Woman Claims She Was Banned From Entering A Beauty Pageant

by Gillian Fuller

A transgender woman was allegedly barred from participating in a beauty pageant after judges discovered she was born male.

According to ITV, 29-year-old Jossy Yendall was accepted into UK beauty pageant Miss Galaxy.

However, when Yendall emailed the pageant organizers to confirm her participation, the judges noticed her application indicated she is transgender.

Yendall said they then disqualified her from the contest, claiming the rules dictate all participants must be “born female.”

After her disqualification, Yendall started a petition to persuade beauty pageant organizers to allow transgender women to compete. She wrote,

Routinely women like me are excluded from mainstream pageants because of the body that we were born in. This needs to change. Excluding us is not only outdated and transphobic, but I am sure flies in the face of UK laws like the Gender Recognition Act [of] 2004... If transgendered celebrity Caitlyn Jenner can be named 'Woman of the Year,' why can't women like us have the chance to compete in these contests?

Yendall's petition secured close to 700 signatures since going live three weeks ago.

Citations: Transgender woman axed from beauty contest starts petition calling for change to rules (ITV), This Woman Says a Beauty Pageant Wouldnt Let Her Compete Because Shes Transgender (Cosmopolitan)