LA: A beauty pageant has booted a contestant out the competition after discovering the buxom blonde was born a boy. The Miss Universe Canada organizers threw out Jenna Talackova when they found out she had undergone surgery to become a woman.
The transgendered contestant had already successfully reached the finals in the Miss Vancouver pageant before she was banned from continuing in the competition.
Although the pageant organizers described Talackova as a ‘real girl’ they disqualified her arguing that the rules state that each contestant must be a ‘naturally born female.’
According to Denis Davila, the national director of Miss Universe Canada, Talackova claimed on her registration form she was born a female.
But becoming suspicious Davila confronted the 23-year-old about her sex change and the contestant admitted she was actually born a male. Despite her pleas to stay in the pageant her confession meant that she was pulled from the contest that same day.
'She feels like a real girl and she is a real girl. She didn’t expect people to question it,' Davila told thestar.com.
'She was hoping we could put her back in the competition, but the rules are very clear and there’s no way we can go back on it.'
The decision from the Miss Universe Canada pageant, which is owned by Donald Trump, has sparked outrage with people calling for Jenna to be reinstated into the contest.
People have taken to social media pages to express their disgust with one Facebook user writing on the pageant's page: 'Tell us what "requirements" did she not make? This reeks of discrimination...'
In a YouTube interview Talackova says she knew she was a female at the age of four and began hormone therapy ten years later.
And the 23-year-old beauty queen, who has competed in Miss Universe pageants and transgendered pageants before, says that she surgically changed her gender aged 19. ‘I regard myself as a woman with a history,’ Talackova says winking to the camera.
A statement from Miss Universe Canada read: ‘Jenna Talackova from Vancouver, British Columbia will not compete in the 2012 Miss Universe Canada competition because she did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form.
‘We do, however, respect her goals, determination and wish her the best.’ Talackova's profile has already been removed from the Miss Universe Canada website.
Davila added: ‘Just because she can't compete doesn't mean we stopped loving her.’
