Kataluna Enriquez makes history as first openly transgender Miss USA contestant.

Kataluna Enriquez became the first openly transgender contestant in Miss USA history after she won Miss Nevada on Sunday Night.

The 27 year old beat 21 other contestants to claim the crown, wearing a rainbow sequined dress she designed herself. Enriquez won with a platform based on transgender rights and mental health. She will compete in the Miss USA pageant in November.

After her win at the South Point Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, Enriquez took to Instagram to thank the LGBTQIA+ community. “My win is our win. We just made history. Happy Pride,” she wrote.

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A post shared by Kataluna Enriquez (@mskataluna)

Enriquez was bullied and abused as a High School student and was prohibited from using either the girls’ or boys’ bathroom. Enriquez began competing in transgender pageants in 2016, and in 2020 she began competing in cisegender pageants.

Enriquez works as a healthcare administrator and fashion designer. She won the Miss Silver State pageant in March, the main preliminary for Miss Nevada USA.

“Growing up, I was often told that I was not allowed to be myself, or to be in spaces that I was not welcome,” she said in the Q&A segment of the pageant in March, as reported by the Las Vegas 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,” she added.

The Miss USA pageant will be held on November 29th at the Paradise Cove Theater at the River Spirit Casino Resort in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The winner of this event will go on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant.

The Miss Universe pageant began allowing trangsender participants in 2012. If Enriquez wins the Miss USA crown, she will be the second trans contestant in Miss Universe pageant history after Spain’s Angela Ponce in 2018.

Miss America, which is a separate organisation to Miss USA, is reportedly only open to “natural born women,” as of 2018 according to the Advocate. In February, a judge upheld the right of Nevada based pageant Miss United States of America to ban trans contestants from its pageants.