LG
07-03-2007, 12:57 AM
They times they are a-changin'?
I don't know, but I feel that every week or so there is new development on transgender rights. I think it is becoming more of an issue and that transsexuals are getting column inches for the right reasons. I feel the world is changing, day by day, little by little, in this respect. I hope it is.
The Miss Spain beauty contest has changed its rules to allow transsexuals and mothers to compete for the title in order to avoid any discrimination among candidates, organizers said Friday.
"Transsexuals and mothers will be able to compete in the next edition," an organizer of the Miss and Mister Spain contest told Agence France Presse.
The move comes after the contest's decision to dethrone a 22-year-old beauty queen when it emerged she had a child met with national outrage.
Angela Bustillo had won the title of Miss Cantabria, a region in northern Spain, in January making her eligible to go on for Miss Spain.
But on Feb. 13 organizers took the crown away, citing a clause in the regional contest that says contestants cannot have children or be pregnant.
Bustillo filed a lawsuit against Miss Spain organizers, saying she was being discriminated against because fathers could compete for Mister Spain.
Pageant organizers justified their rules at the time, arguing that fathers, unlike mothers, "do not undergo substantial physical changes that would impede them from carrying out duties such as travel and taking part in parades that are required from pageant winners."
They decided to change the rules as well to allow transsexuals to compete in both the Miss and Mister Spain contest in the wake of a new law which came into effect in March that allows transsexuals to change their name and official gender without the need for a surgical operation.
"Of course, their morphology must match their civil status," the pageant organizer said.
I don't know, but I feel that every week or so there is new development on transgender rights. I think it is becoming more of an issue and that transsexuals are getting column inches for the right reasons. I feel the world is changing, day by day, little by little, in this respect. I hope it is.
The Miss Spain beauty contest has changed its rules to allow transsexuals and mothers to compete for the title in order to avoid any discrimination among candidates, organizers said Friday.
"Transsexuals and mothers will be able to compete in the next edition," an organizer of the Miss and Mister Spain contest told Agence France Presse.
The move comes after the contest's decision to dethrone a 22-year-old beauty queen when it emerged she had a child met with national outrage.
Angela Bustillo had won the title of Miss Cantabria, a region in northern Spain, in January making her eligible to go on for Miss Spain.
But on Feb. 13 organizers took the crown away, citing a clause in the regional contest that says contestants cannot have children or be pregnant.
Bustillo filed a lawsuit against Miss Spain organizers, saying she was being discriminated against because fathers could compete for Mister Spain.
Pageant organizers justified their rules at the time, arguing that fathers, unlike mothers, "do not undergo substantial physical changes that would impede them from carrying out duties such as travel and taking part in parades that are required from pageant winners."
They decided to change the rules as well to allow transsexuals to compete in both the Miss and Mister Spain contest in the wake of a new law which came into effect in March that allows transsexuals to change their name and official gender without the need for a surgical operation.
"Of course, their morphology must match their civil status," the pageant organizer said.