SAN FRANCISCO, California: A U.S. appeals court has ruled that beauty pageant operator Miss United States of America cannot be forced to allow transgender women to compete in their beauty contests, as this would interfere with its right to express “the ideal vision of American womanhood.”
In a 2-1 decision, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a lawsuit by transgender activist Anita Green, which claimed that Miss United States of America’s policy of only allowing “natural born” women to compete violates an Oregon anti-discrimination law.
After her application to participate in the pageant was rejected, Oregon resident Green sued the company in federal court in Portland last year.
Applying Oregon law, which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, to Miss United States of America would violate the pageant’s free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution, ruled the U.S. 9th Circuit Court, which agreed with the company that by determining who can compete, it expresses its views on womanhood.
“It is commonly understood that beauty pageants are generally designed to express the ‘ideal vision of American womanhood’,” wrote Judge Lawrence VanDyke, who was joined by Circuit Court Judge Carlos Bea.
The ruling affirmed a 2021 decision by a federal judge dismissing Green’s lawsuit.
In a dissenting opinion, 9th Circuit Judge Susan Graber said the court should have first decided whether the Oregon law applies to the company, before weighing the constitutional issues.
