A transgender woman has won Miss Nevada USA, meaning that she will be the first transgender entrant to the Miss USA competition due to be held in November of this year.
27-year-old Kataluna Enriquez was crowned champion in Las Vegas on Sunday. No other transgender person had won Miss Nevada USA previously.
The Filipino-American said that a victory for her was a victory for all transgender people, saying:
"Huge thank you to everyone who supported me from day one. My community, you are always in my heart. My win is our win. We just made history. Happy pride."
She later spoke to reporters and said that she had a strong belief in inclusivity and diversity, referring to both her transgender status and her racial background, she said:
"One thing that is important for me is inclusivity, diversity and representation. It's something I did not have growing up and is still lacking in today's world. Today I am a proud transgender woman of colour. Personally, I've learned that my differences do not make me less than, it makes me more than."
A post shared by Kataluna Enriquez (@mskataluna)
If Kataluna was to win Miss USA, she would become only the second transgender person in history to enter the Miss Universe pageant. A transgender woman was Spain's entrant to Miss universe in 2018.
Miss Trans Global 2020, Mela Habijan, congratulated Kataluna on her win, saying:
"Our trans pinay sister, Kataluna Enriquez, made history today! She won Miss Nevada 2021. She will be the first trans woman to compete at the Miss USA Pageant! Yaaaaassss!"
While some believe that it is progress that a transgender woman has been accepted into the beauty-pageant world, others have criticised the fact that beauty pageants exist at all, calling them demeaning for focusing so strongly on a woman's appearance and presenting such an idea to wider society.
[h/t: Fox News]
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