The Oregonian reported last week that Anita Noelle Green, a transgender woman from Clackamas County, Oregon, is suing Miss America, Inc. for discriminatory rules that allow only “natural born” women to compete, accusing the pageant company of denying her her right to participate in the contest. On Thursday, Federal District Court Judge Michael W. Mosman dismissed Green’s lawsuit.
Greene holds the title of Miss Earth Elite Oregon 2019 and competed in Miss Montana 2018. Greene had applied to compete in the 2019 Miss America National Pageant but was denied.
Miss America Pageant claimed that the company had the right to promote “natural born” women. The judge agreed, finding that Miss America Pageant had the freedom of association.
Judge Mossman ruled that “a pageant company is an association with its own principles of association and cannot be required to violate those principles by allowing transgender people to participate in the association’s events. “
The Oregonian reported that John T. Kaempf, an attorney representing Miss America, LLC, said that pageants could be made more diverse and that people could create pageants for their own demographics.
My client is not anti-transgender, but the client just wants to be able to have a pageant that is just for biological women,” said attorney Kaempf. In fact, Miss America Pageant, Inc. is a proponent of diversity and the company believes that there could be a Miss Black America pageant, a Miss Native American pageant or a transgender pageant.”
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