Miss America Changes Eligibility Rules to Clarify Transgender Stance Following Florida AG Letter

Remembering the Faith of Lincoln on the Anniversary of His Death

EducationInternationalCommentary

Foreign Donations Are Buying Influence Over K-12 Schools. Here’s What Parents Need to Know.

DOJ Finds Biden Weaponized FACE Act Against Pro-Lifers

Transparency Watch: Atlanta Puts a Hefty Price Tag on Muslim Activists’ Pay Records

Republicans Indicate Bipartisan Amnesty Bill Dead on Arrival

EXCLUSIVE: Randy Fine Joins House Freedom Caucus

EXCLUSIVE: ICE Announces Arrests of Several Violent Criminals and Sex Offenders

 LawPoliticsSocietyNews

Heritage Panel: CCP is Murdering Citizens for Organs and Profiting by the Billions

How China Dominates the World’s Critical Minerals Production

Reclaiming the Lunar High Ground

The Space Race Is Back: NASA Prepares for Liftoff of Deep Space Exploration Crew

Sex Scandals End 2 Congressional Careers in 1 Day

Gabbard Exposes Congressional Plot to Impeach Trump

4 Senate Race Predictions Shift in Political Forecast

Can the GOP Cash in on Ohio Redistricting as Dems Appear to Have Clear Midterm Advantage?

Ruling Allows Fulton County to Block Republican Election Board Nominees 

Spanberger Is ‘Taking Credit’ for Youngkin’s Economic Deals

Trump’s Election Integrity Order Faces Wave of Lawsuits Before Dem-Appointed Judges

Democrats Sue to Stop Trump’s Latest Election Integrity Effort

Trump Bullish on Iran Deal, but Uncertainty Remains

Where Do Dem Presidential Favorites Stand on Israel?

 PoliticsSecurityNews

Trump Claims Gold Star Families Told Him to ‘Finish the Job’ in Iran

Citing ‘Echo Chamber’ on Iran, Trump Counterterrorism Chief Resigns

Conservative and Proud: Is the Right Representing Women? 

Girl Boss vs. Trad Wife: Forced to Choose?

Beyond the Oyster Fork: An Etiquette Expert’s Tips for ‘Relationships, Work, and Life’

Is the Iran Operation ‘America First’?

Democrats’ Jungle Primary Boomerang Hits Swalwell Hard

Victor Davis Hanson: Why Trump Grew Frustrated With Pam Bondi

International Commentary

‘We’ll Be Your Canada’: Brutal Reality Check for NATO Free Riders

If Donald Trump Did What Obama Did, Media Would Cheer—So Why the Outrage Now?

Miss America Changes Eligibility Rules to Clarify Transgender Stance Following Florida AG Letter

Tyler O'Neil / @Tyler2ONeil

Tyler O'Neil is senior editor at The Daily Signal and the author of two books: "Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center," and "The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government."

The Miss America Organization has changed its rules to clarify that only females can compete. This comes after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier warned the organization that it might be violating the Sunshine State’s law by allowing men who identify as transgender.

Uthmeier sent Miss America a letter Friday warning that its policies may violate Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. While Miss America’s public-facing documents state that a competitor must “be a female,” an aspiring contestant objected when she found language in the contract that seemed to permit men who undergo transgender surgery.

Kayleigh Bush won the title of Miss North Florida 2025 in the Miss Freedom USA Pageant, a required preliminary qualifier for Miss Florida. Miss America, which runs the Miss Florida Pageant but not the Miss Freedom USA Pageant, requires contestants to sign a contract that defined “female” to include “an individual who has fully completed sex reassignment surgery via vaginoplasty (from male to female) with supporting medical documentation and records.”

Bush hired the nonprofit law firm Liberty Counsel to represent her, and Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to Miss America, demanding Bush be allowed to compete without signing a pro-transgender document. Liberty Counsel further claimed that Bush had been stripped of her Miss Florida title.

The concerns come a few years after a man who claimed to identify as a woman won the Miss Universe pageant in the Netherlands.

To advance in competition, Miss North Florida 2025, Kayleigh Bush, was told to sign a contract that forced her to compete against men. She refused.“Miss” America and “Miss” Florida advertise as women-only competitions, which is misleading and may violate FL law. This is wrong! pic.twitter.com/UJoAzyUOl1— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) April 10, 2026

To advance in competition, Miss North Florida 2025, Kayleigh Bush, was told to sign a contract that forced her to compete against men. She refused.“Miss” America and “Miss” Florida advertise as women-only competitions, which is misleading and may violate FL law. This is wrong! pic.twitter.com/UJoAzyUOl1

Miss America’s Policy Change

On Monday, Liberty Counsel published a screenshot of the updated competition requirements, which clearly exclude men who identify as women, but preserve the surgery requirement for biological women born with male genitalia, one of the rare conditions described as “intersex.”

The previous language defined female this way:

“Female” means a born female or an individual who has fully completed sex reassignment surgery via vaginoplasty (from male to female) with supporting medical documentation and records.

“Female” means a born female or an individual who has fully completed sex reassignment surgery via vaginoplasty (from male to female) with supporting medical documentation and records.

The new language uses this definition:

“Female” means a born female or born an intersex female individual (defined as one born with two X chromosomes with nonconforming genitalia) who has fully completed sex reassignment surgery via vaginoplasty with supporting medical documentation and records.

“Female” means a born female or born an intersex female individual (defined as one born with two X chromosomes with nonconforming genitalia) who has fully completed sex reassignment surgery via vaginoplasty with supporting medical documentation and records.

Miss America’s Side of the Story

Mallory Hudson, communications manager for Miss America HQ, confirmed to The Washington Times that the language had indeed been changed.

“The current eligibility policy as to gender was formally updated in the second half of 2024 and was revised again in 2026 to ensure consistency, transparency, and respect for all individuals who meet the qualifications to compete,” she said. “Specifically, our participation policy affirms eligibility for Intersex females, which are those born with female chromosomes, but non-conforming genitalia.”

Stuart Moskovitz, Miss America’s attorney, denied any misrepresentation in a response to Uthmeier.

“At the time [Bush] entered the Miss Freedom USA contest, Miss America did not control local feeder competitions,” he wrote. “It did control its licensed competitions such as Miss Florida, which is why in attempting to compete for Miss Florida, [Bush] was then asked to sign the Miss America contract.”

“If a person has two X chromosomes, she is a biological woman, regardless of the rare circumstance in which she is born with unmatched genitalia,” Moskovitz wrote. “If the woman corrects that anomaly, she is permitted to compete.”

“Without the language to which Kayleigh objects, someone born with two X chromosomes, biologically a woman, could compete with male genitalia,” he argued. “Miss America has the absolute right to prevent that from happening.”

Liberty Counsel’s Response

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver celebrated the policy change away from transgender orthodoxy.

“We are pleased that Miss America has finally come to its senses and revised its contract to remove the ridiculous statement that a boy can be a girl,” he said in a statement Monday. “A boy cannot be a girl.”

“Miss America now knows what a woman is—a common-sense understanding that Kayleigh Bush knew instinctually,” Staver added. “Miss America should now reinstate the benefits of Bush’s crown, including the scholarship that she rightfully deserves.”

SEISMIC: A Detransitioner’s $2M Jury Verdict Threatens Child Mutilation Pipeline

Civil Rights Chief Urges Women to Challenge Trans Policies

Pro-Life Leaders React to Louisiana Abortion Pill Ruling

Read the first chapter of The Woketopus right now for FREE

Today, even with President Trump’s victory, leftist elites have their tentacles in every aspect of our government.

The Daily Signal’s own Tyler O’Neil exposes this leftist cabal in his new book, The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government.

In this book, O’Neil reveals how the Left’s NGO apparatus pursues its woke agenda, maneuvering like an octopus by circumventing Congress and entrenching its interests in the federal government.

You can read the first chapter of this new book for FREE in this eBook, The Woketopus: Chapter One using the secure link below.

The Tony Kinnett Cast

The Daily Signal Podcast

© 2025 The Daily Signal Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

We use cookies on our website. By using our website, you consent to cookies.  Learn More .  

© The Daily Signal