With a little help from GLAAD, the Miss Universe Organization has announced an official policy change and will allow trans contestants to compete for the title. Details follow.

According to a release:

"GLAAD first contacted the Miss Universe Organization on Saturday, March 24 after news broke that Jenna Talackova was disqualified from the Miss Universe Canada competition. GLAAD called on the Miss Universe Organization to review Jenna's case, as well as open the competition to transgender women. After unsuccessful attempts to reach Jenna Talackova personally, the Miss Universe Organization and its owner Donald J. Trump moved forward and announced last week it would allow Jenna to compete. To further demonstrate its commitment, the organization, in consultation with GLAAD, discussed a policy change that includes transgender women in time for the start of this fall’s 2013 pageant season; a time when most of the competitions around the world begin to take place."

Miss Universe and GLAAD want you to know that the decision had nothing to do with celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who has been chaperoning Jenna on a media tour and feuding with Donald Trump along the way. 

Paula Shugart, president of Miss Universe, said:

“We want to give credit where credit is due, and the decision to include transgender women in our beauty competitions is a result of our ongoing discussions with GLAAD and not Jenna’s legal representation, which if anything delayed the process. We have a long history of supporting equality for all women, and this was something we took very seriously.”

Comments (1)

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written by criss, April 10, 2012

this really warms my heart, really unexpected! she received so much criticism and hate, from LGB and straight people alike (incluing commenters on this site), for standing up for her rights to be treated as any other woman and challenging the rules for their inherent discrimination. im so glad to hear of one more victory for gender identity rights! as insignificant as it may seem, every public challenge and victory helps build understanding that transsexual people deserve to be treated just as anyone else of their gender, or their sexuality for that matter. if the rules are wrong, there's no justification for silently obeying them. how would we have gender, sexuality, and marriage equality making such headway right now if people didnt challenge the rules? hooray for lgbtqia progress and unity!

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