The Miss Italy pageant has put a ban on trans women from competing, and trans man are protesting by entering the competition themselves.
Miss Italy’s official patron, Patrizia Mirigliani, recently said on Radio Cusano that only “women from birth” would be allowed to enter this year’s competition. She went on to say that the inclusion of trans women in beauty pageants is “absurd” and that Miss Italy will not take part in the “glittery bandwagon of trans activism”.
Mirigliani statements come as her reaction to the news that a trans woman (22-year-old Rikkie Valerie Kollé) won the Miss Netherlands pageant earlier this month, making her the first trans woman to take home the crown.
And so trans men are taking Mirigliani’s statement, and using it for their cause. Trans men are entering the competition because they are technically “women from birth,” exactly Mirigliani’s words. Trans activist Federico Barbarossa, told Italian newspaper la Repubblica, “When I heard about the absurd regulation, it came spontaneously to me. I was assigned to the female gender at birth, but I’ve always felt like a boy.”
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Elia Bonci, another trans activist, added, “I took courage, used my deadname and signed up for Miss Italy because fighting transphobia is intersectional and even though I’m not a trans woman, I’ve decided to fight for their rights.”
Looks like Miss Italy’s patron’s hateful statement backfired on her. When it comes to the “women from birth” rule, Bonci called out that the statement was unclear. Mirigliani failed to take gender identity into account, not just birth-based sex, and therefore gave the ‘okay’ for trans men to sign up in her attempt to ban trans women from signing up. Over 100 trans men have now entered the Miss Italy pageant. Congratulations, Mirigliani, you played yourself.
The protest shows a beautiful moment of resilience and solidarity amongst the trans community. Like Bonci said, “The era in which you could be transphobic ars*holes without any consequence is over.”
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