Lauren Pineda
History has been made as Kataluna Enriquez, a biological male, won the Miss Silver State USA pageant this week and will continue on to compete for Miss Nevada USA pageant. The event is considered the biggest preliminary competition for Miss Nevada USA.
Videos by Rare
Kataluna Enriquez- @mskataluna
KVVU-TV called this a “monumental win” for Enriquez, who will compete for Miss Nevada USA, leading to Miss USA, and eventually the Miss Universe competition. According to the Blaze, “The pageants, collectively run by the Miss Universe Organization, were once owned by former President Donald Trump and are widely recognized for awarding among the most coveted crowns in the pageant world.”
Enriquez said the experience was, “a celebration of womanhood and diversity and this celebration of being your true self,” but also explained how she has not been very popular within the pageant world. She explained how at a previous unnamed competition, when the organizers found out she was transgender, she was required to provide medical documents to prove she was in fact female. They also refused to assign her a roommate. She said, “I was asked to provide documents that were invasive in my opinion physically asking me to get a letter from my doctor. It brought me back to a time where I felt like I was not welcome.”
Kataluna Enriquez- First Transgender Beauty Pageant Winner of Miss Silver State USA
But Enriquez refused to let that get in the way of her competing. Instead, she used the experience to help create more “awareness of the transgender community” as a part of her own pageant platform. The message was definitely beneficial for Enriquez in the Miss Silver State USA competition, as transgenderism becomes more widely accepted in avoiding any trace of discrimination.
Over the past few years, pageants have started to receive more entries from biological males, as well as criticisms for denying them to participate. In 2018, Angela Ponce, the winner of Miss Universe Spain, is the first openly trans woman contestant to be crowned Miss Spain and was also favored to be crowned Miss Universe.
