Miss America pageant alters contract language to clarify definition of women

The Miss America Organization has revised its contract language to clarify that only females can compete in its beauty pageants after a contestant claimed she lost her crown for declining to sign a contract that she believed suggested that trans-identified males can participate, an allegation the organization has denied. 

The Miss America Organization sent a letter last Friday to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier informing him that the organization “altered” its contract language to clarify that “a person is a woman only if born with two X chromosomes.”

Miss America’s letter to Uthmeier came on the same day that the Florida attorney general warned the beauty pageant organization that it may have violated the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

After Kayleigh Bush won Miss North Florida 2025 and became eligible for the Miss Florida Scholarship Program in the fall of 2024, she was asked to sign a contract asserting that the definition of the word “female” includes “an individual who has fully completed sex reassignment surgery via vaginoplasty … with supporting medical documentation and records."

Bush declined to sign the contract because she felt it conflicted with her religious beliefs about gender and sexuality. Because she declined to sign the contract, the Miss America Organization wouldn't allow her to continue competing and blocked her from enjoying any of the benefits that came with her crown, including the scholarship, according to a statement from the Christian legal group Liberty Counsel, which represented Bush.

“Under FDUTPA, section 501.204(1), Florida Statutes, prohibits ‘[u]nfair methods of competition, unconscionable acts or practices, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce,'" Uthmeier wrote. "A ‘representation or omission’ that is ‘likely to deceive a consumer acting reasonably in the same circumstances’ constitutes an unfair trade practice."

The attorney general accused Miss America and Miss Florida of making "false and misleading 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," Uthmeier wrote. "Nowhere on either organization’s websites are there any disclosures that men may compete.”

In his response letter to Uthmeier, Miss America General Counsel Stuart Moskovitz accused Uthmeier of engaging in “misinformation.” Moskovitz insisted that “Ms. Bush never had her title stricken” and justified the previous contract language, which all contestants were required to sign. He contends that the original language was not intended to allow males to compete but to prevent them from doing so. 

“If a person has two X chromosomes, she is a woman, regardless of the rare circumstance in which she is born with unmatched genitalia. If the woman corrects that anomaly, she is permitted to compete.”

“Without the language to which Kayleigh objects, someone born with two X chromosomes, a woman, could compete with male genitalia. Miss America has the absolute right to prevent that from happening,” Moskovitz added.

Moskovitz pushed back on the allegation that Miss America misrepresented its policies. 

"At the time Kayleigh entered the Miss Freedom USA contest, Miss America did not control local feeder competitions," Moskovitz said. "It did control its licensed competitions such as Miss Florida, which is why, in attempting to compete for Miss Florida, Kayleigh was then
asked to sign the Miss America contract."

The revised contract language now states that an "applicant must be a naturally born female," according to Liberty Counsel. 

"Female’ means a born female or an intersex female individual (defined as one born with two X chromosomes with nonconforming genitalia) who has fully completed sex reassignment surgery via vaginoplasty with supporting medical documentation and records," the policy states. 

The revised definition of “female” has removed the words “male to female,” thereby eliminating the suggestion that a male can become a female and that trans-identified males can compete in the pageants.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver expressed gratitude about the development while calling on Miss America to take further action.

“We are pleased that Miss America has finally come to its senses and revised its contract to remove the ridiculous statement that a boy can be a girl,” he said. “A boy cannot be a girl. Miss America knows what a woman is — a common-sense understanding that Kayleigh Bush knew instinctively. Miss America should now reinstate the benefits of Bush’s crown, including the scholarship that she rightly deserves.”