Breaking Beauty: Miss Universe Files for Bankruptcy Amid Transgender Controversy

by Michaela McLean Wilkes, Miss Florida 2019

"Should transgenders be allowed to compete in beauty pageants?"

When the judge posed this question to me during the final round of the 2019 Miss Florida Competition, a wave of anxiety swept over me. Standing before a diverse audience of hundreds of people with varying perspectives, I grappled with the weight of this question and how my response would impact my standing in the competition.

The context of this question was set by Angel, later known as “Angela” Ponce's “groundbreaking” participation as the first Miss Spain transgender contestant in the 2018 Miss Universe Competition. At the moment, I opted for a diluted answer, suggesting that the decision should be left to transgender participants. However, reflecting on it now, my unequivocal response would be a firm "No."

While I won the title of Miss Florida 2019 that night, my answer bothered me for months. The assault on women's spaces protected under Title IX is an alarming concern, with biological men asserting perceived entitlement to women-only environments, including pageants.

Women's beauty pageants and scholarship programs, such as the Miss America Organization I participated in, give young women in every state an opportunity to embody the “ideal” American woman through style, scholarship, service, and success –– first for their community, then for their state, and if they’re lucky enough, for their nation.

For me, pageants represented a competition where femininity, in all its glorious complexity, took center stage. Whether displaying the beauty, grace, and confidence needed to win the evening gown phase or commanding an audience through the talent portion, each element of competition helped me achieve a deeper understanding of the layered, powerful, and most of all unique qualities every woman is born with. It was a girls-only club where, despite the intense competition, camaraderie among contestants permeated the pageant atmosphere as we cheered each other on, collectively celebrating the essence of our femininity.

“Go Woke, Go Broke” – Miss Universe Edition

Unbeknownst to me, the judge’s biased, yet prescient question the night I won Miss Florida predicted a now commonplace reality in beauty pageants just four short years later.

The trans tyranny has now hit every stage of the competition across a spectrum of organizations. Brían "Bree-ann" Nguyen was crowned as the first transgender local titleholder to Miss New Hampshire (Miss America Organization) and nationally, Kataluna Enriquez took home the title of Miss Nevada USA in 2021 (Miss USA Organization). Furthermore, international trans titleholders from this year’s Miss Universe pageants included Marina Machete of Portugal and Rik “Rikkie Valerie” Kolle of the Netherlands.

By inviting biological males into a space historically reserved for biological females, is the pageant world disenfranchising the heart and soul of their organization, which is women?

Just one day before the start of last week’s Miss Universe pageant, Thai tycoon and transgender celebrity Anne Jakrajutatip announced that Miss Universe had filed for bankruptcy after accepting transgender contestants in 2022. Jakrajutatip is part of JKN Global Group, the company behind the Miss Universe pageant, which bought the organization for $20 million from IMG Media in 2022.

Prior to the bankruptcy announcement, Jakrajutatip vowed to revolutionize Miss Universe and described the purchase as “a strong, strategic addition to our portfolio.”  He (“she” to the rest of the world) told Cosmopolitan, “Why was an organization that claimed to be about female empowerment owned exclusively by men?” So instead of men owning the organization, Jakrajutatip allowed men to compete in the organization?  FTR, Miss Universe under Jakrajutatip was still male-owned! Make it make sense.

Following Miss Portugal's crowning, the Miss Universe Organization told CNN, “Trans women are women, full stop. We are here to celebrate women, full stop. This has been true for more than a decade, and we’re proud to have made this change very early on, compared to other programs." Well the pageant certainly didn’t live up to its promise of “celebrating women” after JKN’s share price fell over 80% since promoting male participants.

Congratulations, Miss Universe. You have officially “budlighted” yourself.

According to The Miss Universe Organization’s website, the pageant is “a safe space for women to share their stories and drive impact personally, professionally, and philanthropically.” But allowing biological men to compete in pageants is far from fostering a “safe space” for real women. In fact, it can have quite the opposite effect. For any woman who holds a view outside of “Trans women are women. Full stop”, the temptation to become insecure, self-conscious and intimidated by the threat of Cancel Culture looms large.

It is insulting and demoralizing to every hard-working woman who tirelessly prepares for a competition only to see a biological male masquerading as a woman take home the title. It mocks and belittles our very femininity to watch a male dress up in an evening gown, walk around in heels, and pretend he’s a woman. Just because he “feels female” does not mean he has the right to compete against us.

I agree with Emily Austin, host of "Varney & Co" who said, “I think the outrage about a trans woman coming to Miss Universe and preaching, 'Bring the power back to women,' couldn't be more of an oxymoron. If you want to empower women, the way to do it is not demeaning women and belittling women by allowing men, or biological men who became a woman, to come into an industry like sports, like beauty pageants, come all dolled-up plastic — [they're] beautiful men, by the way — and start dominating women's industries. That's the opposite of women's empowerment."

Whether it’s Riley Gaines racing against William “Lia” Thomas, a female field hockey player in Massachusetts getting her teeth knocked out mid-game by a boy on the opposing team, or transgender males winning women’s beauty pageants, women’s spaces protected under Title IX are completely under attack. There is no greater time than now for women to fight for the protection of the locker room, the sports field, sororities, women’s organizations, schools, and now, women’s beauty pageants.

If I could go back to my on-stage question on the final night of Miss Florida, today, my answer would sound very different. Seeing that the future of women’s rights is at stake, I would confidently look the judges in the eye and say, “By conforming to the transgender-inclusive agenda, as real women, we are self-sabotaging our hard-won rights and protected spaces guaranteed under Title IX. We must fight harder than ever to ensure that true women are not erased –– but celebrated and empowered –– for the innate and profound qualities that are instilled in them from birth, down to their very DNA. We must continue to crown titleholders who are ‘Queens of Authentic Femininity’ and exemplify the true inner and outer beauty of our God-given womanhood. Thank you.”