The Miss Italy pageant has made a decision not to allow transgender women to take part as competitors. The patron of the competition stated that contestants must have been born as women, Newsweek reported.
This decision comes shortly after Miss Netherlands celebrated its first-ever transgender winner.
Miss Italy does not allow transgender people, says competitors must be woman ‘from birth’
“This month, during an interview with Radio Cusano, Miss Italy’s Official Patron Patrizia Mirigliani expressed her views on beauty contests. She mentioned that lately, these competitions have been using strategies that she finds a bit absurd. The information was reported by Il Primato Nazionale and translated from Google.
“Since it was born, my competition has foreseen in its regulation the clarification according to which one must be a woman from birth. Probably because, even then, it was foreseen that beauty could undergo modifications. Or that women could undergo modifications, or that men could become women,” Mirigliani added, Il Primato Nazionale reported.
Polls show that in Italy, people’s support for transgender rights is similar to what is seen in other Western countries. Back in 2016, the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute polled 23 countries, including Italy, to understand how people around the world feel about transgender individuals. In 21 of those countries, including Italy, most respondents expressed their support for policies that would prevent discrimination against transgender people.
Miss Netherlands’s first-ever transgender winner
Rikkie Valerie Kollé achieved a historic moment as she was crowned Miss Netherlands 2023 on July 8, 2023, according to a report by NPR. This made her the very first transgender woman to win this prestigious title.
Kollé will also represent the Netherlands in the upcoming Miss Universe pageant, which will be held in El Salvador later this year. The special moment took place at the AFAS Theater in Leusden.
Huffington Post Italy reported that Mirigliani expressed her contentment with the Netherlands for welcoming transgender women to participate. However, she clarified that the rules of the Miss Italy contest would remain unchanged.
“We have a long history of supporting equality for all women. And this was something we took very seriously,” Miss Universe contest’s president Paula Shugart, said at that time, Reuters reported.
