First Transgender Woman Set To Compete In Miss GA USA Pageant

Beauty pageants have changed over the years in many ways. Most recently, it has been the inclusion of transgender contestants.

Kataluna Enriquez was the first transgender woman to compete in a USA pageant. That was in 2021, and now, just a few years later, Bella Bautista is going to be competing for the Miss Georgia USA title. She is the first openly transgender woman to compete for that title.

Bautista is from Cartersville, Georgia, and is now Miss Buckhead USA. She is hoping to take things to the next level.

She said: “I was like, this could honestly be a true reality for me. This dream could one day come true. And just because there hasn’t been a first in Georgia, I could be that first.”

She also said that it has been a difficult journey at times and the public has not always been accepting of it, especially on social media.

“It had over a thousand comments in less than 30 minutes of people saying that I shouldn’t be in this world, that I’m just a man, that I’m mentally ill, that I don’t belong in this pageant.”

Bautista, who is a cheerleader was very open about her feelings when the Georgia legislature voted to move forward in keeping transgender women from competing in women’s sports. She said: “It’s heartbreaking to know that the elected officials are stripping away my civil rights and opportunity for happiness because being a cheerleader makes me happy.”

Although there has been some negativity, Bautista tries to focus on the positive side of things. She said: “I’m just going to sign up. I’m going to wish for the best and hopefully, that I am treated fairly and scored fairly as well.”