Greater than a decade ago, Donald Trump helped a transgender woman compete in the Miss Universe pageant when he owned the organization – before the former president said on Sunday that “God created two genders” as he set a goal to reclaim the White House in 2024.
In a videotaped speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s twenty third annual spring launch in Iowa on Sunday, Trump vowed to “defeat the cult of gender ideology” at a time when transgender rights have change into a contentious political debate in the US.
“We are going to defeat the cult of gender ideology and reaffirm the timeless truth that God created two sexes, female and male,” he said. “We are going to defend our culture. We are going to restore the Judeo-Christian values that underpin our nation.”
But Trump’s actions in 2012 looked as if it would contrast with the weekend’s statements when he rescinded the rejection of Jenna Talackova, a transgender beauty queen who entered the Miss Universe Canada pageant.
Talackova, then 23, was originally turned down because she was not born a biological female, based on an earlier report.
Talackova underwent sex reassignment surgery at the age of 19 and was in possession of legal documents proving she was a woman when pageant organizers barred her from entering the pageant, claiming she “falsified the application when she said she was born female.” reported Reuters then.
Organizers also said that the Miss Universe Organization “has rules that apply to all of its franchises around the world.”
![Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Hilton Anatole Hotel, August 6, 2022.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000009965792.jpg?w=1024)
She and her then-lawyer, Gloria Allred, called on the Miss Universe organization to abolish the rule that applicants have to be “born” women.
But by then, pageant organizers had already modified course, allowing Talackova to compete at the behest of Trump, who was president and owner of the Miss Universe pageant, Reuters reported.
“So long as Jenna Talackova meets Canada’s legal gender recognition standards, which we understand she does, she is free to compete in Miss Universe Canada 2012,” said Michael Cohen, then Trump’s special adviser and executive vp. the president of his business group said at the time.
“Nobody surrenders. Reasonably, the Miss Universe organization respects Canada’s rights,” Cohen told Reuters, adding that “like all other contestants, Mr. Trump wishes her good luck.”
Relations between Cohen and Trump have deteriorated significantly since Trump recently sued Cohen for $500 million.
Trump in April 2012 video statement Reported via Fox News Digital, commented on the controversy surrounding Talackova, saying that it had change into “a big, big story” at the time.
![Transgender contestant Jenna Talackova attends the Miss Universe Canada pageant in an evening dress in Toronto, May 17, 2012.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000010103201.jpg?w=659)
“We let her in,” Trump said. “Let’s have a look at what happens. Perhaps he can handle it, perhaps not.”
He added that if she wins, she’s going to advance to the Miss Universe pageant.
“Everyone desires to be Miss Universe,” he said.
Days later, the Miss Universe organization said it could change its policy to permit transgender women to compete from 2013 after conferring with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLADD), Fox News reports.
Moving quickly to Trump’s comments on Sunday, he promised to sign an executive order that will cut federal funding for schools that push “critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our youngsters.”
“As president, I’ll sign a latest executive order directing every federal agency to stop promoting gender and gender reassignment at any age,” Trump said. “I’ll then ask Congress to send me a bill to ban child sexual mutilation in all 50 states and keep men out of ladies’s sports.”
He also pledged last week at the NRA convention that he would instruct the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “investigate whether hormone treatments and beliefs of transgender people increase the risk of utmost depression, aggression and even violence,” Fox News reported.