Transgender woman makes beauty pageant history - In Your Face ...

Transgender woman makes Miss Universe history

May 19th, 2012, 1:00 am ? ? posted by MARILYN KALFUS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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UPDATE:?Jenna Talackova became one of 12 semi-finalists?Saturday night, but was not picked for the?top 5.

A beauty contestant in Canada made history this week?as the?first-ever transgender contestant to compete?in the Miss Universe pageant.

Jenna Talackova?of Vancouver?was among 62?women vying for the crown. Born a male, she had a sex-change operation 4 years ago, at age 19.

Talackova, who grew up as?Walter,?said she knew since she was?a small child?that she was in the wrong body.

Talackova made headlines this spring after?she was?disqualified from competing because she wasn?t a naturally born woman. Donald Trump?s Miss Universe Organization later relented and announced that?it went on to ?modernize? the contest?s?rules.

?She?s still a winner as far as I?m concerned,? Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred, who had taken up Talackova?s cause, said of her client in an AP story on Saturday night. ?She won an ?herstoric? civil rights victory and that I think is frankly more important than anything, any victory she would win, even representing Miss?Canada.?

The winner of the contest, Sahar Biniaz, 26, advances to the international Miss Universe pageant in December.

See more photos of Jenna Talackova?in the Miss Universe pageant?here

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