A federal appellate court says a national beauty pageant has a First Amendment right to exclude a transgender woman from competing, because including her could interfere with the message the pageant wants to send about what characteristics make an ideal woman
BOISE, Idaho — — A federal appellate court says a national beauty pageant has a First Amendment right to exclude a transgender woman from competing, because including her could interfere with the message the pageant wants to send about the “ideal woman.”
Green sued, contending the organization was violating a state law that makes it illegal to deny public accommodations to people based on their sex or gender identity. “As with theater, cinema, or the Super Bowl halftime show, beauty pageants combine speech with live performances such as music and dancing to express a message,” Judge Lawrence VanDyke wrote for the majority. “And while the content of that message varies from pageant to pageant, it is commonly understood that beauty pageants are generally designed to express the ‘ideal vision of American womanhood.
Forcing the pageant to include transgender contestant would amount to “compelled speech,” — a violation of the First Amendment — and the fact that the pageant was a business that engages in commerce wasn't enough to overcome that free speech right, the panel found. “The Ninth Circuit’s conclusion says it all: “Green asks to use the power of the state to force Miss United States of America to express a message contrary to what it desires to express. The First Amendment says no,”” Kaempf said.
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