Politicians deserve scorn for not passing law to allow a transgender model to pursue her dream

by Charlie Smith on Mar 24, 2012 at 7:56 pm
Jenna Talackova looks like a Miss Universe Canada contestant.

The case of Jenna Talackova offers more evidence that trans rights need to be enshrined in Canadian and B.C. human-rights legislation.

The 6'1" Vancouver model has been told that she can't participate in the 2012 Miss Universe Canada competition. According to the pagent, "she did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form."

Only womyn-born womyn are welcome, it seems.

On Twitter, Talackova claimed that she was "disqualified for being born".

In the last Parliament, former NDP MP Bill Siksay managed to get his private member's bill banning discrimination against transgender people to third reading. However, the bill died when the House of Commons was dissolved before the May 2, 2011 election.

Meanwhile, NDP MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert has tried to have discrimination against transgender people outlawed under the B.C. Human Rights Code.

Right-wing governments led by Stephen Harper and Christy Clark don't appear to have any interest in protecting the human rights of the trans community.

All of which explains why a young model named Jenna Talackova hasn't been allowed to pursue her dream.

See also

Trans contestant Jenna Talackova ousted from Miss Universe Canada born a woman, advocates say

Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.

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LGBT

Should trans contestant Jenna Talackova be reinstated into the Miss Universe Canada pageant?

Yes 70%
860 votes
No 26%
316 votes
Not sure 5%
59 votes
Comments (18) Add New Comment
A. MacInnis
Mar 24, 2012 at 9:17 pm
Not only should laws be passed against such discrimination, but someone needs their heads checked: the networks are missing out on substantially increasing the audience for the Miss Universe pageant on this one. Hell, even *I* would tune in to see the first transgendered contestant in a Miss Universe pageant (and NO, they're not the sort thing I watch usually).
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Robert Bernstein
Mar 24, 2012 at 10:35 pm
Bottom line Jenna, you are a gorgeous woman !!
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scallywag
Mar 24, 2012 at 11:00 pm
What will be interesting to watch is if Ms Talackova will pursue legal recourse as the pageant’s decision once again opens up a fissure as to how one defines gender and how this may act to discriminate against those individuals who for all intensive purposes are the genders they insist they are despite events and circumstances, such as their birth which are often beyond their control.

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Anthony Simpson
Mar 25, 2012 at 6:12 am
The past is the past. The future is the future. However, we all live in the moment we call now. I understand Jenna Talackova's disappoint. I wonder what the reaction would have been if they had known she was born the wrong gender when she register of the contest.
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Hazlit
Mar 25, 2012 at 8:04 am
That kind of beauty and that kind of courage makes me feel that I would happily date and be intimately involved with a transgender woman.
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Mercedes Allen
Mar 25, 2012 at 8:25 am
Please don't perpetuate the idea that there is *no* legal recourse. There is legal recourse in her case, there are simply problems with the way it is attained, thus making it necessary to have clear inclusion.

Unfortunately, as long as people believe that they have no legal recourse, they often don't attempt to fight for their rights, and the vulnerability cycle is further perpetuated.
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thoughtsprovoker
Mar 25, 2012 at 9:51 am
It absolutely astounds me how reactive society becomes when something challenges the collective "norm", and this is no different. Jenna is stunning and deserves to exercise her right to compete. The fear? She may actually win!! Good for you Jenna for not only advocating change, but living it...
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A. Person
Mar 25, 2012 at 12:41 pm
I would like to point out that the bill mentioned has been reintroduced this Parliamentary session as C-279. There is an opportunity to correct this sort of injustice.
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DavidH
Mar 25, 2012 at 2:36 pm
My understanding is that she lied on the application for the contest. If that's true, then that alone should disqualify her from the competition.

What she SHOULD have done is challenge the right of the contest organizers to ask the question (a challenge I would have supported, and which may well have succeeded in a tribunal or court). But she didn't. She lied and was disqualified.
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stevefox
Mar 25, 2012 at 4:40 pm
i would marry her lol
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Rush L.
Mar 26, 2012 at 9:02 am
First of all, that's a dude. Second, that's a dude.
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Plum Duff
Mar 26, 2012 at 10:16 am
If it's pretty, hit it.

There is no gay.
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Not Moved
Mar 26, 2012 at 10:20 am
Somewhere a woman is being pummelled in the hijab with rocks, wishing she was a BC guy who wanted to be a woman who wanted to win a beauty contest but couldn't because there is no justice in this world.
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Jerry Eberts
Mar 26, 2012 at 11:34 am
I'm not sure Jenna has a legal argument here. As genetic evidence becomes ever
more common as evidence, "she" is always going to test as a male. I'm all for eliminating prejudice (go Spencer!), but reality is also important. And these sorts of commercial judgment-contests of women's beauty are gross insults to start with. This is just plain silly.
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t.p
Mar 26, 2012 at 12:02 pm
A lie is a lie. If she challenged the system to permit a transgendered contestant, it would've been great and gained many viewers. The publicity for the pageant would've been outstanding. If she lied, she lied, and that has nothing to do with her being transgender.
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Gia G
Mar 27, 2012 at 8:29 am
Rush L. what an ass hole!
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Gentleman Jack
Mar 27, 2012 at 9:14 am
Jerry, why should genetics dictate gender?
Why should people have genders at all?
So that they can be filed into the appropriate PE class, come Grade 8?
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Jerry Eberts
Mar 27, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Geez Jack, I don't know. Maybe because reality is where I want to live.

A fact is a fact. If I had a doctor construct a nice long tail for me and I then told everyone I am now a Spanish pony, it does not make it so.
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