Kayleigh Bush, the 2024 Miss North Florida champion, has been stripped of her title and barred from competing in the Miss America nationals—all because she wouldn’t sign a revised contract that essentially erases the biological definition of womanhood to include men who’ve undergone surgeries.
The Miss America organization demanded Bush affirm transgender participation, turning a century-old celebration of women into another battleground for gender ideology.
Bush, standing her ground on basic truth, called it out as a betrayal of the pageant’s legacy.
Miss North Florida winner Kayleigh Bush speaks out after her crown was revoked for saying that men CANNOT become women.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 11, 2026
"I didn't lose my crown because I broke a rule. I lost the crown because I was unwilling to rewrite the TRUTH."
MEN CANNOT BE WOMENpic.twitter.com/xKQFwF8aAM
Bush revealed the ordeal in a recent interview, explaining how she was pressured months after her win to accept new language in the contract. The rules now define eligible “women” as including those who’ve completed “Sex Reassignment Surgery via Vaginoplasty (from male to female).” Bush refused, stating flatly that she couldn’t agree to the idea that “a little boy could mutilate his body and become a woman.”
“It was heartbreaking. It was confusing. It was disappointing,” Bush said. “Because Miss America has been honoring women for over 100 years, and now they can’t even define what a woman is.”
She added that the organization had changed the contract four weeks after her victory, forcing her into a corner. “I didn’t lose my crown because I broke a rule. I lost the crown because I was unwilling to rewrite the truth,” Bush told TMZ.
Her mother joined the fight, leading to weeks of appeals, emails, and even involvement from Liberty Counsel, a legal group defending religious freedoms. But Miss America doubled down, refusing to budge.
A spokesperson for the pageant defended the decision, claiming it’s about “fairness to all contestants and adherence to nondiscrimination principles.”
They further insisted the contract doesn’t force personal belief changes but ensures no “discriminatory conduct.” In other words, contestants must play along with the fiction or get booted—hardly the empowerment women were promised.
This is far from an isolated incident; it’s part of a broader pattern where transgender individuals are infiltrating and dominating women’s spaces, even pageants.
Back in 2023, the Miss Universe pageant made headlines when its new owner, a transgender businesswoman, celebrated the event as being “run by women”—prompting widespread mockery for the obvious irony.
Miss Universe’s shift under transgender ownership turned it into what many called an “international drag queen show.”
Examples abound. In 2018, Angela Ponce became the first transgender contestant in Miss Universe, representing Spain.
Ángela Ponce, ganador transexual del Miss España dice: "tener vagina no te hace mujer."
— Dark Celtic (@DarkCeltic10) July 26, 2018
Ah vale, asi que ser un Frankenstein de hormonas, químicos y plástico al parecer sí que te hace mujer ? pic.twitter.com/vZZL2JmJ8U
To celebrate #PrideMonth, we’re taking a look back at Angela Ponce’s journey to the Miss Universe stage. ????
— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) June 5, 2019
“If I can give that to the world, I don’t need to win Miss Universe, I only need to be here.” – Miss Universe Spain 2018, Angela Ponce pic.twitter.com/57ZsQJjxLq
By 2022, an individual known as Kataluna Enriquez won Miss Nevada USA, and in 2023, Rikkie Kollé took the Miss Netherlands crown.
Those Women are absolutely BEAUTIFUL…!!!
— APer289?? (@AlPere289) January 21, 2023
But look at what we have defined as a beautiful woman in the USA…
Kataluna Enriquez became the first transgender woman to win the Miss Nevada beauty pageant? pic.twitter.com/xn34hGTeuz
Kataluna Enriquez — the first openly trans Miss Nevada USA — is speaking out against Congress forcing members to use the bathroom according to biological sex … calling the whole fight totally disgusting. pic.twitter.com/ZIgKQu2UrO
— TMZ (@TMZ) November 23, 2024
The winner of Miss Netherlands 2023 is Rikkie Valerie Kollé, a male pic.twitter.com/5AyiIEvcCt
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 9, 2023
Amid the push for transgender inclusion, not all pageants are folding to the pressure. In a refreshing contrast, the Miss Italy pageant doubled down on biology back in 2023, explicitly banning transgender contestants and requiring all entrants to be “a woman from birth.”
Patrizia Mirigliani, the competition’s patron, described the policy as longstanding, predicting even then that gender ideologies might try to warp beauty standards.
Miss Italy beauty pageant BANS transgender competitors.
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) July 21, 2023
The owner of the Miss Italia pageant Patrizia Mirigliani has announced biological males are banned from competing in the women’s beauty contest.
“My competition provides in its rules the clarification that you must be a… pic.twitter.com/cKsmAQib0F
Mirigliani slammed other contests for chasing media buzz by including trans participants, calling it “a little absurd” and refusing to “jump on the glittery bandwagon of trans activism.” She emphasized avoiding “excesses” that distort aesthetics, framing it as part of a broader defense of traditional views on womanhood.
Critics argue this trend isn’t about inclusion—it’s about conquest. Women’s sports have seen similar invasions, with transgender athletes like Lia Thomas dominating swimming events and sparking lawsuits from displaced female competitors.
Beauty pageants, once a platform for empowering young women, now risk becoming performative spectacles where biology takes a backseat to ideology.
Bush remains hopeful, urging Miss America to “return to truth.” Her stance echoes a growing resistance among Americans tired of forced compliance with radical gender theories. Groups like Liberty Counsel are stepping up, framing these battles as defenses of free speech and religious liberty against corporate wokeness.
If even pageants can’t uphold the simple reality that women are women, what’s left for actual women to celebrate?
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I feel terrible for anyone going through gender dysphoria, but reality is reality.