Miss Italia defends the decision to ban all transgender women from competing saying she “will not jump on the shiny bandwagon of trans activism”
- Miss Italy patron Patrizia Mirigliani said contestants must be ‘female by birth’
- It comes after the Netherlands crowned their first-ever male-born winner on July 8.
The Miss Italia beauty pageant will not allow transgender women to compete in the pageant, organizers said.
Miss Italy patron Patrizia Mirigliani said contestants must be “women of birth” and the competition would not jump on the “shiny bandwagon of trans activism.”
It comes after the Netherlands crowned its first male winner of a female beauty award, Rikkie Valerie Kollé, 22, on July 8.
She added that it was a “little nonsense” that beauty pageants were trying to attract attention by including transgender contestants.
But Ms Mirigliani said she was happy for the Dutch contest if she wanted to include them.
Miss Italy patron Patrizia Mirigliani (left, with Miss Italy 2022 winner Lavinia Abate, right) said contestants must be ‘women of birth’ and the competition would not jump on the ‘shiny bandwagon of trans activism’
It comes after the Netherlands crowned its first male winner of a female beauty award, 22-year-old Rikkie Valerie Kollé (pictured), on July 8.
“Since he was born, my jurisdiction has provided in its regulations the clarification according to which one must be a woman by birth,” he told Radio Cusano.
“Probably because, even then, it was expected that beauty could change, or that women could change, or that men could become women.”
She noted that women with tattoos, piercings and extensions could participate in Miss Italy, but added that “excesses” were not good.
The winner from the Netherlands, Ms Kolle, said that becoming a woman “was not easy for everyone” and admitted that she suffered a lot because of it.
She was so determined to become a girl that she changed her name from Rik to Rikkie at the age of just 11, convinced she was “born in the wrong body”.
But in her youth, she faced years of daily bullying that brought her home crying from school.
Rikkie Valerie Kolle looked a confident picture as she beamed at the crowd as she became the first transgender woman to be crowned Miss Netherlands.
Ms Kolle (pictured) was eight when she says she began her journey, but was 16 when she began the process of transitioning into a woman, which included taking female hormones.
‘I was born little Rik, but I wanted to be a big Rikkie. The transition from male to female became something that made me feel at home,” he said on his Instagram.
“I endured the teasing and went home crying. I would think: “Why me, why is this happening to me?” But I always had the support of my loving family and friends.’
Ms Kolle was eight years old when she says she began her journey, but was 16 when she began the process of transitioning into a woman, which included taking female hormones.
She then underwent gender-affirming surgery in January of this year, something she described as “the day I became who I want to be.”
