America isn’t the only country trying to destroy trans lives. Western nations across the world are following in America’s anti-trans political footsteps, and Italy is determined to keep the pace. The organizers for the Miss Italy beauty pageant reportedly banned trans women from competing, saying that the competition is reserved only for people who are “women from birth.”
Trans men had something to say about that.
After the Miss Italy organization’s announcement, over 100 trans men across Italy signed up to compete in the pageant in order to protest the new Miss Italy policy. The men all used their deadnames in order to gain entry into the competition, and organizers were not aware that they were men until they showed up in person.
Patrizia Mirigliani, the organizer of Miss Italy, has shown no intention of changing the pageant’s policy, saying that she will not be jumping on the “glittery bandwagon of trans activism.” In response, that glittery bandwagon decided to run her over. Her statement came after the 22-year-old Rikkie Valerie Kollé made history when she was crowned at the first ever trans Miss Netherlands. “Lately, beauty pageants have been trying to make headlines by also using strategies that I think are a bit absurd” said Mirigliani, commenting on the news.
However, Mirigliani soon saw herself hoisted with her own petard after enforcing the new rules, as Italy’s process for changing one’s name and gender is not based on self-declaration, but governed by a complex bureaucratic system. As such, the trans men are allowed to compete. They are all Italian, over 18 years old, and are still registered as “female” on their identity documents.
According Federico Barbarossa—the organizer of the protest—the men do not seriously intend to compete. In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, he said that the the goal of the protest was “to trigger, through a joke, a reflection on the absurdity of some logics out of time and out of the world.”
“Someone imagines us as three-headed monsters who could never aspire to win a beauty contest, because even the media representation often brings forward narratives that fetishize our bodies,” Barbarossa continued. “With this campaign, we are giving visibility to the truth of trans people.”
Trans activist Elia Bonci also spoke with La Repubblica, saying, “I took courage, used my deadname and signed up for Miss Italy. Because fighting transphobia is intersectional and even though I’m not a trans woman, I’ve decided to fight for their rights.”
Bonci went on to stress the importance of the demonstration, saying, “Miss Italy is not just a beauty contest, but it is part of the country’s cultural history. And excluding trans women automatically means excluding them from history. Pretend they don’t exist.”
What does the queer internet at large have to say? We love it. May the boys take home the crown.
Godspeed, indeed.
(featured image: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Published: Jul 28, 2023 05:05 pm