Transgender Woman Wins Female Beauty Pageant In Nevada
A transgender person won the Miss Silver State USA pageant and is now a step closer to being crowned Miss USA.
According to KVVU-TV, Kataluna Enriquez, a biological male, has made history for becoming the first titleholder of the said major local beauty pageant — the pageant considered to be the biggest preliminary competition for the Miss Nevada USA pageant which eventually sends the representative to the Miss USA pageant.
The Fox-affiliated television station in Las Vegas called it a “monumental win” for Enriquez, 27, as she now moves to the statewide competition leading to the nationwide pageant and eventually the Miss Universe pageant.
Miss USA and Miss Universe — run by the Miss Universe Organization — were onced owned by former President Donald Trump before he sold it to WME/IMG in 2015. Both pageants are hailed as two of the most coveted crowns in the pageant scene.
In an interview with FOX5 after her victory, Enriquez called the experience a celebration glorifying womanhood.
“Miss Silver State was a great experience … to me it was honestly a celebration of womanhood and diversity and this celebration of being your true self,” she said.
Enriquez, a model by profession and a native of California, said her experiences in the pageant world has not been all easy as she recalled how another pageant asked her to prove she was female by providing documents.
“I was asked to provide documents that were invasive in my opinion physically asking me to get a letter from my doctor,” she recalled, noting that pageant organizers also allegedly refused to assign her a roommate when they found out she was transgender.
Enriquez has won transgender pageants in the past — including Queen California and Queen USA 2016. She has also competed against contestants who were born biologically female.
“It brought me back to a time where I felt like I was not welcome,” she added.
As she moves forward to the next big stage Enriquez noted that “awareness of the transgender community” will be her pageant platform — adding that “it gives you higher purpose.”
The Miss Silver State USA website notes that participation in the competition requires those relating to age and residency. One of the requirements is also for a contestant to be “a female citizen of the United States,” although the term “female” was not clearly defined.
The Miss Nevada USA pageant will be reportedly held in June.
“I have a great feeling about Nevada. … I am looking forward to it,” Enriquez said.
While transgender women have been allowed to compete in Miss Universe pageants since 2013, not many have openly stepped forward to participate.
But as more and more biological males have entered beauty pageants, organizers are often met with backlash for any slight move to deny them of participating in such competitions.
Miss Spain 2018 Angela Ponce became the only openly trans woman to ever compete at Miss Universe — and was at one point the favorite to win the Miss Universe, which eventually went to Philippines’ Catriona Gray.