by Laverne Cox
I was very moved when I found out that the Miss Universe organization
would allow Jenna Talackova to compete, reversing their earlier
decision to disqualify her because she is transgender. The
organization's statement asserted that she will be allowed to compete
only "provided she meets the legal gender recognition requirements of
Canada, and the standards established by other international
competitions." It's wonderful that the organization has stated that it
will allow Jenna to compete, but it needs to go further. The Miss
Universe organization needs to make a public statement saying that it is
working to revise its policy once and for all so that the competition
is open to all women, and it must set a deadline for the written
revision of the policy.
As the media noise gets louder, I believe it's essential that we
remember that this is a case about equality, that no one should have a
glass ceiling on their dreams. This is an opportunity for the Miss
Universe organization to make a statement about inclusion. In a
discussion about this case on my Facebook page, a number of transgender
women remarked that "rules are rules." Many stated that trans women
have our own beauty pageants. Many countered my call for inclusion,
asking, "Should we allow non-trans women to enter pageants that until
now have been reserved for trans women?" Reading these comments, I
couldn't help but think about the Jim Crow laws, which mandated in
Southern states after the Civil War that in all public facilities
African Americans were to have "separate but equal" access. We now know
that separate was never equal. African Americans were second-class
citizens. Sometimes rules are discriminatory and need to be changed.
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