Brian Ngyuen, a biological male, won the Miss Greater Derry beauty pageant in New Hampshire as part of the nationwide Miss America contest on Tuesday. “In the 100-year history of Miss America, I have officially become the FIRST transgender titleholder within the Miss America organization,” the transgender victor said in an Instagram post on Monday.
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“No words can describe the feeling of having the opportunity to serve my community and represent my community for the very first time at Miss New Hampshire,” Nguyen said. “I am so honored to be crowned your new Miss Greater Derry 2023, and I am thrilled to show you all what I have up my sleeves.”
As part of the reward, Nguyen won $7,500 in scholarships as part of her reward package.
According to the Miss Greater Derry Scholarship Program, founded in 1986, the goal is to “provide scholarships to young women between the ages of 17 and 24 living the Greater Derry area recognizing their outstanding achievements in scholastic aptitude, talent, character, community service and poise within the guidelines of the Miss [New Hampshire] and Miss America Organizations.
San Francisco’s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on November 2nd that Miss America has the right to determine who can be a contestant in its beauty pageants. The organization disqualifies contestants if they have previously posed nude or have been convicted of a felony crime.
“Miss United States of America expresses its message in part through whom it chooses as its contestants, and the First Amendment affords it the right to do so,” Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke ruled.
Some criticized the result in New Hampshire for preventing a biological female from earning the scholarship herself.
“This is not just a ‘beauty pageant,’ they award scholarships to the winners. Brian [Nguyen] has just taken a scholarship away from a young woman,” Twitter user Judith Holofernes said.
Another person asserted that the allowance of biological males into traditionally female spaces is paramount to modern-day misogyny. “Ladies, when are you going to stand up for yourselves and say NO! You’re being sidelined by true misogynists,” one Internet denizen stated emphatically. “He just effectively stole a young girl’s scholarship. This is toxic.’
