The winner of the Miss Nevada pageant has been crowned and will be moving on to the next round to compete for Miss USA for the year of 2021.
Kataluna Enriquez, 27, was crowned Miss Nevada and the pageant was located at South Point Hotel-Casino in the city of Las Vegas.
Her next steps are to compete for Miss USA where the pageant will be held in Oklahoma this upcoming November 29th. She is the first transgender woman to win a national title.
The model is originally from the Philippines and moved to the United States at the young age of 10. Her career in pageants had begun in 2016 when she started off as a model, but judges would treat her differently once they found out she was transgender.
To prove her identity, she was asked to provide documents which invaded her privacy, having asked to get a letter from her doctor to prove her gender. They would allow her to compete, but would not give her a roommate like how other models would have.
She says that the feeling brought her back to the time where she felt like she was not welcome, feeling humiliated.
She has won past pageants such as Queen California, Queen USA 2016, Super Sireyna WWUSA, and recently won Miss Silver State USA preliminary pageant. She explains the most recent pageant as a “great experience.. it was honestly a celebration of womanhood and diversity and this celebration of being your true self”.
Enriquez’ background, as she comments, is that she “grew up in poverty and had to forge my own path. I’ve been told that I’m a sin and I’m taking something away from little girls. People have their opinions and when it comes to people calling me a man, it doesn’t hurt me. I’ve heard that so many times”.
She tells sources that she used to cry herself to sleep and hoped that she wouldn’t wake up, but now she has embraced a new perspective on life and continues on striving to do her best in what makes her happy.point 291 |
If the model wins the pageant this upcoming November, she will be the second transgender contestant that has run at a national title.point 111 | The first contestant was back in 2018 who was crowned as Miss Spain.point 167 | 1