Florida Attorney General Challenges Miss America’s Inclusion of Transgender Competitors in Women-Only Pageant

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Having previously challenged the NFL and generative artificial intelligence, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has now turned his attention to the Miss America organization.

Uthmeier took to social media to highlight the controversy involving Kayleigh Bush, known as “Miss North Florida.” According to reports, Bush lost her title after refusing to compete alongside male participants.

Bush initially secured her title by emerging victorious in the Miss Freedom USA Pageant in 2024.

However, Uthmeier claims that later, Bush was asked to agree to a contract permitting men who have undergone vaginoplasty to enter the competition alongside her.

“Although Miss America and Miss Florida promote themselves as beauty contests exclusively for women, these organizations misled Kayleigh and the public by allowing certain male competitors,” Uthmeier stated in a letter addressed to the organization.

The attorney general also pointed to Miss America’s and Miss Florida’s websites, which advertised that contestants must “be a female” to be eligible for competitions.

But when Bush refused to sign the contract, the Miss Florida organization stripped her of her title and barred her from competing further, the attorney general claimed.

“By misrepresenting their competitions to Kayleigh, Miss America and Miss Florida may have violated Florida law,” he continued.

More specifically, Uthmeier argued that the Miss America and Miss Florida groups made false representations about their beauty competitions.

“Both organizations made statements advertising that only females can compete, when in fact men are apparently also permitted to compete,” he concluded. “Nowhere on either organizations’ websites are there any disclosures that men may compete.”