The Miss Italy pageant has banned transgender contestants from taking part in the beauty contest, saying that contestants must be a woman from birth.
Patrizia Mirigliani, the Official Patron of the contest, said during an interview with Radio Cusano that beauty competitions have been advocating inclusivity only to generate publicity. “Lately, beauty contests have been trying to make the news by also using strategies that, I think, are a bit absurd. Miss Italia, on the other hand, will not jump on the glittery bandwagon of trans activism,” Mirigliani said.
“Since it was first started, this competition has foreseen in its regulation the clarification, according to which, one must be a woman from birth. Probably because, even then, it was foreseen that beauty could undergo modifications, or that women could undergo modifications, or that men could become women,” Mirigliani was quoted as saying by Il Primato Nazionale.
Notably, this came days after transgender model Rikkie Valerie Kolle was conferred with Miss Universe Netherlands 2023 on 8 July 2023. He succeeded Ona Moody and will now prepare to represent the Netherlands at the 72nd Miss Universe (Miss Universe 2023) in El Salvador.
