Jenna Talackova, a BC native who has identified as female since she was four years old and started her male-to-female transformation at age 14, has been disqualified from the Miss Universe Canada competition.
Miss Universe has released a statement saying that Jenna “did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form. We do, however, respect her goals, determination and wish her the best.”
Fucking publicists. They’re so good at twisting things to make it sound like they give a damn. If they really respected her goals and determination they would applaud her bravery instead of shaming it.
The 23-year-old’s pictures and profile have been erased from the Miss Universe website. Jenna has told CTV that she won’t be speaking about her disqualification until she has conferred with a lawyer but went to her Twitter to say she had been kicked out of the competition over “discrimination” and that she is “not giving up.”
A real Miss Universe has nothing to do with who someone was when they were born, and everything to do with who they’ve grown up to be. A real Miss Universe is someone who has worked hard to overcome adversity and achieve her dreams. It’s a shame the competition doesn’t recognize that and insists on putting so much emphasis on physicality, instead of focusing on what’s on the inside — which is what makes a “real” woman, and which, one would hope, is what makes a woman worthy of being called Miss Universe.
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