There is often controversy surrounding the Miss USA competition and this year is no different.
Miss Universe Organization co-owner Donald Trump says he plans to file a lawsuit against former Miss Pennsylvania USA contestant Sheena Monnin after she accused pageant organizers of fraud — Monnin says the competition was fixed and that she had evidence the top five contestants were selected in advance of Sunday’s show.
“She said some really strong things,” Trump said during an appearance on NBC’s Today show Wednesday morning. “When she’s using the word ‘fraud,’ that’s pretty strong, so we’re going to be suing her on that basis.”
Monnin turned in her Miss Pennsylvania sash and crown Monday, calling the pageant fraudulent, lacking in morals and trashy.
Miss Universe officials said Monnin only recently changed her reasons for the resignation.
"Today she has changed her story by publicly making false accusations claiming that the pageant was fixed, however the contestant she privately sourced as her reference has vehemently refuted her most recent claim," a statement said.
According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, pageant officials said Monnin really quit because she opposed competing against transgender contestants, who were allowed into the pageant for the first time this year.
Pageant officials released an e-mail message they said they received from Monnin on Monday that read, “I refuse to be part of a pageant system that has so far and so completely removed itself from its foundational principles as to allow and support natural born males to compete in it. This goes against ever (sic) moral fiber of my being.”
In April, the Miss Universe Organization ended a ban on transgender contestants after Canadian Jenna Talackova, who was born male, faced disqualification from the pageant.
So what do you think about transgender contestants competing in Miss Universe Organization pageants? Should they be allowed to compete or should the competitions be open only to natural born women?
Personally, I would love to hear about this from someone who has experienced life before and after a transgender procedure.
According to the American Psychological Association, "Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. Gender identity refers to a person’s internal sense of being male, female, or something else; gender expression refers to the way a person communicates gender identity to others through behavior, clothing, hairstyles, voice, or body characteristics." So there are individuals who do not conform to their biological sex. Do we base how we treat them on the genitals they were born with or do we base how we treat them on how they actually see themselves and are comfortable? Just to complicate the discussion further, what about individuals who are intersex? (Read more here: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001669.htm.) Even physiological sex isn't black and white ...