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Jenna Talackova, Transgender Miss Universe Hopeful From Canada, May Get Another Shot At Title (VIDEO)


First Posted: 04/ 3/2012 12:51 am Updated: 04/ 4/2012 12:30 pm

Jenna Talackova Transgender
The case of a transgendered Vancouver woman kicked out of the Miss Universe Canada pageant reached a new high on Monday, pitting Donald Trump's Miss Universe Organization against a prominent American lawyer. (AP File Photo)

VANCOUVER - The case of a transgendered Vancouver woman kicked out of the Miss Universe Canada pageant reached a new high on Monday, pitting Donald Trump's Miss Universe Organization against a prominent American lawyer.

Trump's New-York-based organization released a statement late Monday saying Jenna Talackova, 23, who was dropped from the beauty contest last month after admitting she was born a male, can compete in the May 19 event "provided she meets the legal gender recognition requirements of Canada." The statement, posted on the pageant's website, did not elaborate on what those requirements were.

The statement came shortly after Talackova announced a news conference in Los Angeles with high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred for Tuesday.

Allred's office said its news conference is still proceeding as planned and that Allred would not comment on Monday night.

Back in B.C., Canadian lawyer Joseph Arvay, who said he was retained over the weekend, said he hopes the announcement means Talackova can compete but he's not yet sure.

"It's gobbledygook to me," he said of the announcement.

When talking about the legal gender recognition requirements in Canada, human-rights laws in B.C. and Ontario apply, he said, adding those laws "prohibit discrimination based on being transgendered."

"So one would think that she therefore meets the legal gender requirements in Canada."

Arvay said he has been given instructions to begin legal proceedings against pageant organizers on the grounds that they've discriminated against Talackova and he hopes developments on Tuesday add clarity to the situation.

The decision to drop Talackova from the pageant raised her profile considerably, with pictures and YouTube videos of the six-foot-one-inch blond getting plenty of clicks. News outlets in the United States, Britain, Canada and elsewhere picked up the story.

Talackova vowed to keep up the fight and is urging supporters to sign an online petition calling for her reinstatement. By Monday night, more than 40,000 people had signed the petition, which calls the decision to disqualify her "discriminatory, unjust, and quite frankly disgusting."

Officials with Miss Universe Canada denied the discrimination claims, saying the rules established by the Miss Universe franchise state each contestant must be a "naturally born female."

In an interview posted on YouTube during the Miss International Queen 2010 contest in Thailand, Talackova said she knew at a very young age that she was female and started hormone therapy when she was 14.

She said she went through gender reassignment surgery when she was 19.

The Miss Universe Canada pageant was created in 2002 by Beauties of Canada, which says it holds the exclusive rights to send contestants to the Miss Universe Pageant.

_ With files from The Associated Press.

Related on HuffPost:

Jenna Talackova Defended By Bill O'Reilly (VIDEO)



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The Brazilian supermodel was discovered by Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci when he hired her as his personal assistant. Soon after she became his muse and her modeling career began.

She has been featured in high-profile fashion magazines like "Vogue Paris," "Hercules," "Interview," "Love," and "Cover."
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VANCOUVER - The case of a transgendered Vancouver woman kicked out of the Miss Universe Canada pageant reached a new high on Monday, pitting Donald Trump's Miss Universe Organization against a promine...
VANCOUVER - The case of a transgendered Vancouver woman kicked out of the Miss Universe Canada pageant reached a new high on Monday, pitting Donald Trump's Miss Universe Organization against a promine...
VANCOUVER - The case of a transgendered Vancouver woman kicked out of the Miss Universe Canada pageant reached a new high on Monday, pitting Donald Trump's Miss Universe Organization against a promine...
VANCOUVER - The case of a transgendered Vancouver woman kicked out of the Miss Universe Canada pageant reached a new high on Monday, pitting Donald Trump's Miss Universe Organization against a promine...
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Laverne Cox

Laverne Cox: The Right to Dream: Jenna Talackova's Miss Universal Slight

Do transgender people have the right to dream? This is what comes up for me most predominantly when I think about the recent disqualification of Jenna Talackova from competing in Miss Universe Canada because she is, in their words, not a "natural born female."

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kerrydragon
5 Fans
04:42 AM on 04/04/2012
I would be proud to see Jenna represent Canada.She is beautiful,and she did not lie,she was never asked if she was a transsexual.So much hate over a person who seems so nice.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
YankeeJet24
40, transgendered, fab, & loves sports! NOT a lib!
27 Fans
12:32 AM on 04/07/2012
I hope she wins it all, and I am an American. She is lovely and I am jealous! :)
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kerrydragon
5 Fans
12:50 AM on 04/07/2012
I wish more people thought like you......
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sursum korda
135 Fans
06:45 PM on 04/03/2012
I am not aware she had ever entered any other contest and noted to-day in her interview she was accompanied by a "high priced American lawyer" a woman who has no licence to practice in Canada.The lawyer went on to say that other legal groups in New York, Los Angeles and Canada ( I guess we have no cities) are being formed. It begins to look like the pageant was hijacked to-wards an agenda other than beauty.
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evlv66
20 Fans
03:47 PM on 04/03/2012
One of comments gave me this idea, it was about XX/XY and that it is not that simple…
So, if there are more genders around (not just MAN and WOMAN) but different combinations… why all transgenders want to become either MAN or WOMAN, pushing the rest of us to endless debates? Why man who thinks he is a woman wants to have all kind of therapies just to wear woman’s close and be able to go to lady’s washroom?
Isn’t it better to have all kind of competitions for transgenders as well as a special gyms, shower / locker rooms and washrooms?
If you guys insist it is not just about MAN or WOMAN – why do you want to become either MAN or WOMAN?
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Dray D Drawton
0 Fans
11:53 AM on 04/04/2012
So, let me get this right: you support segregation?

And obviously you're uninformed about gender queers, and the Japanese "newhalf" stuff as well.
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evlv66
20 Fans
12:50 PM on 04/04/2012
Segregation? -sure, if you mean to segregate transgengs from normal people...
Japanese "newhalf"? - I knew nuclear fall out will create further mutations...
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evlv66
20 Fans
03:30 PM on 04/03/2012
I think it must be Miss. / Mr. Transgender Universe competition as well. This way no debates and no lawyers will be needed. Plastic surgeons will sponsor this competition like crazy!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
basinr
The truth and nothing but the truth
57 Fans
 
03:20 PM on 04/03/2012
She could win Miss Universe,she's that Gorgeous !!! signed a hetro sexual male
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evlv66
20 Fans
03:15 PM on 04/03/2012
Aren’t we opening Pandora’s Box in here?
This is what I am trying to say: there is a fine red line drawn by (God, Nature, etc. – you pick the one you like). There are men on one side and women on another side. Your gender is how your body looks like when you were born. True enough – some people do feel trapped in a wrong body, but…
Here is what we can potentially deal with – let’s say woman was born in man’s body. She grew up to realise mistake had happened, so she decided to become a man. Yes - corrective surgery to cut off all “extra” parts, yes – hormone therapy, however she will have higher level of testosterone her entire life (remember? – man’s body!).
Now, let’s say, she is in active sport competing as a woman. Her testosterone level will give her a huge advantage, like a performance enhanced drugs, which are prohibited…
Now what? All records and gold medals will be won by women in men’s bodies?

So, back to the article. I don’t know what kind of tests all Miss…. are going through, but in case there is any test related to physical strength – he / she will have unjustifiable advantage.
This is only one small aspect of this problem, be ready for more to come…
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janet2derek
347 Fans
03:10 PM on 04/03/2012
Just one minute here everyone seems to forget the real reason she was disqualified. She LIED on her application form. Liars deserve to be booted out. She stated she was born a female which is a question on the entry form.
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jrmunro
50 Fans
12:29 PM on 04/03/2012
I am of the opinion that the only reason she entered was to cause a lawsuit much the same as women suing to get into an all mens club then never going there after.
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MicDev Soo Perman
0 Fans
11:41 AM on 04/03/2012
As FASHION & GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHER ( since 1972...) and, also, OWNER of a Modelling Agency, my work gave me the chance to meet lots of Super Models... But, from now on, my life will never be the same... and I will never trust a GORGEOUS WOMAN again when she will show up...
WOW...WOW...WOW... ( signed: Michel Deveault, Owner-Founder & Director of Mic-Dev Agency )
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bagelmart
426 Fans
11:26 AM on 04/03/2012
That reporter in the photo is looking at her(his) "melons"
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
kevinbr38
Give Me A Pig Foot....
4704 Fans
 
11:51 AM on 04/03/2012
Lol,
I posted the same thing.
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Robert Vitulano
What did the dino say to the car? RAWR
11 Fans
11:14 AM on 04/03/2012
You know something must be incredibly ambiguous if a lawyer can't even make sense of it! Ms. Talackova should meet the Canadian requirements to legally change her sex to female on official Canadian documents as she has undergone gender reassignment surgery over a year ago. That makes her legally a female document-wise, seemingly conforming to one part of what the Miss Universe pagaent requires. As to International Standards... I'm always iffy about what qualifies as "international" here.

Stories like this also brings out the worst in some commentators! The level of hate makes me sad.
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Blackhawk6
Stay Alert - Stay Alive!
163 Fans
11:10 AM on 04/03/2012
"Gender Recognition Requirements"... can ANYBODY SPELL G-O-I-N-G T-O-O F-A-R??

If you have to do all that - he's not a woman and should go compete in the Miss Transgendered Universe pageant.

I mean really.
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85Percent
Southern Liberal & Michigander
600 Fans
11:10 AM on 04/03/2012
I assume the other contestants, the naturally born females, are allowed to have boob jobs as well? The world gets stranger every day, and we get new sets of problems with every problem progress fixes.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
Bike Commuter
No More Hurting People
2447 Fans
11:14 AM on 04/03/2012
Prejean had her implants paid for by the pageant.
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Oly Schmidt
When life hands you lemons, drink hefeweisen!
173 Fans
11:08 AM on 04/03/2012
I just think the caption photo is hilarious.
How many "guys" ever get to use the phrase; "Hey, my eyes are up here!"?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Jamie Dufour
keep believing....
720 Fans
11:08 AM on 04/03/2012
I think the greatest point that seems to be over looked is that the Miss Universe Pageant is a scholarship it has not been formally seen as a beauty pageant since the 80's (I think).

Secondly this is not about surgeries plastic or otherwise (most have no idea what is involved actually but so many seem to be experts about it, figure that one out.)

This is a competition where competing woman are posed questions and asked to show individual talents or abilities. The argument of her actually being a woman born or not is certainly the most loaded question that seems to be asked. Jenna has been born mentally a woman and had perhaps a genetic defect which is Physical. She did not chose to become a woman she has and the medical community already recognizes this in most place in the world that she is in fact female. Just because the US is so blatantly ignorant to basic civil and GLBTQ rights does not make it a crime nor should they invalidate the uniqueness of the individual.

Jenna Presents as a female is a female and acts like one perhaps more so then some natal woman. If you chose to be intolerant to her why should we then be tolerant and accept you? If a woman loses her breasts and her reproductive capabilities does that make her any less of a woman? Certainly not....

Please become informed about things better before you become so critical.
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evlv66
20 Fans
03:23 PM on 04/03/2012
By the DEFINITION from the NATURE woman is to give a birth, to nurse the child, to keep a life going… Can any GLBTQ or Jenna give a birth to a child? Like a… real birth to a real child?
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rlambchop
10 Fans
 
04:29 PM on 04/03/2012
Not all WOMEN can give birth, that's why we have ADOPTION for God sake! Not all Women can nurse their babies, does that mean they are not women, of course not. Some people are born with both genitalia and are either altered by surgery or have to choose for themselves which Gender they should be. I think Mother Nature knows exactly what she's doing and we should respect all people. Of course lying about it is wrong but she was obviously scared she would get in trouble. I would be more concerned with religious fanatics who are closed minded and change the rules to fit their purpose than a beautiful woman who just wants to follow her dream.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Jamie Dufour
keep believing....
720 Fans
07:22 PM on 04/03/2012
not all women can give birth, please explain that....
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