Story at a glance:
- Kataluna Enriquez is the first transgender woman to win Miss Nevada USA.
- She will compete in the Miss USA on Nov. 29.
- Four out of five recent pageant winners are women of color.
Making pageant history, the first transgender woman won the title of Miss Nevada USA.
On Sunday, the crown shone brightly on Kataluna Enriquez’s head at the South Point hotel-casino in Las Vegas.
She made history, The Review-Journal reported.
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As the winner of Miss Nevada USA, she will compete for Miss USA on Nov. 29.
Prior to her Miss Nevada win, Enriquez won the Miss Silver State USA in March, and at the time, she pushed for inclusion as a transgender person of color.
“One thing that is important for me is inclusivity, diversity and representation. It’s something I did not have growing up and is still lacking in today’s world,” Enriquez said according to the Review-Journal. “Today I am a proud transgender woman of color. Personally, I’ve learned that my differences do not make me less than, it makes me more than.”
In the competition, Enriquez wore gowns that she designed and created herself, including one with rainbow sequins.
“I did not always have money and it’s hard for women to find dresses that fit their bodies,” Miss Nevada USA said. “Pageantry is so expensive and I wanted to compete and be able to grow and develop skills and create gowns for myself and other people.”
The 27-year-old competed in transgender pageants in 2016 when she was starting out as a model, but recently Enriquez has been competing in cisgender pageants.
“I wanted to share my story and present that I was more than just a body,” Enriquez told the Review-Journal. “With pageantry, people think it is only about beauty. But it’s how you present yourself, what you advocate for, what you’ve done and the goals you have.”
In the past five pageants, four out of five of them have crowned a woman of color as the winner.
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