Beauty Pageant Miss Italy Bans Biological Males Who Identify as Transgender From Competition

Finalists of the Miss Italia 2018 contest at the 75th Venice Film Festival at Sala Grande in Venice, Italy, on Sept. 7, 2018. Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images

The beauty pageant Miss Italy (Miss Italia) has stated that contestants must be “a woman from birth,” thereby banning biological males who identify as transgender from the competition.

Patrizia Mirigliani, the official patron of the competition, told radio station Radio Cusano that the standard has not changed since the competition’s inception, reported Italian news outlet Il Primato Nazionale.

“Ever since it was born, the competition includes in its regulation the clarification that you have to be a woman from birth. Probably because, even then, it was expected that in the future [the definition of] beauty could undergo changes, or that women could undergo modifications, or that men could become women,” she said.

She said that to attract media attention, beauty contests nowadays are using strategies she believes are “a little absurd,” adding that Miss Italy “will not jump on the glittery bandwagon of trans activism.”

Ms. Mirigliani noted that Miss Italy has itself loosened its standards over the years, such as allowing women to compete even if they have tattoos or piercings or hair extensions.

Patrizia Mirigliani at the 75th Venice Film Festival at Sala Grande in Venice, Italy, on Sept. 7, 2018. Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images

“It’s all part of the new way of talking about women, but we try not to facilitate everything that is excessive to accentuate the aesthetics. Excesses are not good,” she said.

Her remarks come after the beauty pageant Miss Netherlands on July 8 awarded the title to a contestant who identifies as transgender—the first such contestant to win the title. Rikkie Valerie Kollé, 22, will represent the Netherlands at the Miss Universe 2023 pageant, which is expected to be hosted by El Salvador.

Contestant Rikkie Kolle reacts after being crowned winner in the Miss Netherlands beauty pageant in Leusden, on July 8, 2023. Evert ElzingaANP/AFP via Getty Images

“If Miss Holland thought it appropriate to include [people who identify as transgender] I am happy for them,” Ms. Mirigliani said in separate remarks, adding that rules for Miss Italy would not change for now, reported Huffington Post Italy.

Miss Italy is not related to Miss Universe Italy, which is a separate pageant that selects the Italian representative for the Miss Universe pageant.

Mr. Kollé will be the second openly transgender person to compete in the Miss Universe pageant—the first competitor who identified as transgender was Angela Ponce in 2018, who won the title of Miss Spain.

Angela Ponce of Spain competes during the 2018 Miss Universe Pageant in Bangkok on Dec. 17, 2018. Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images

The Miss Universe beauty pageant, which includes Miss USA, changed its rules in 2012 to allow biological males who identify as transgender to compete.

“We have a long history of supporting equality for all women, and this was something we took very seriously,” the president of the Miss Universe organization, Paula Shugart, said at the time.

In the United States, two people who identify as transgender won their beauty pageant contests in recent years.

Miss Nevada USA 2021 Kataluna Enriquez at The Garden Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nev., on July 23, 2021. Bryan Steffy/Getty Images

Kataluna Enriquez won Miss Nevada USA in March 2021, becoming the first contestant to identify as transgender to compete in, and to win the Nevada pageant. Mr. Enriquez went on to compete in the 2021 Miss USA pageant later that year.

Brian Nguyen won the title of Miss Greater Derry 2023 in November 2022, becoming the first person who identifies as transgender to win a title under the Miss America organization—a separate pageant to Miss Universe and Miss USA. Mr. Nguyen went on to compete against other local title holders in the Miss New Hampshire 2023 pageant in April but did not win.