Organizers of the
national Miss Spain beauty pageant have decided to
permit mothers and transsexuals for eligibility, Agence
France-Presse reports.
The rule change
was prompted by controversy surrounding the pageant's
dethroning of 22-year-old Anna Bustillo, who won the
regional title of Miss Cantabria, after organizers
discovered that she had a young son. Bustillo claimed
she was discriminated against, citing the eligibility of
fathers in the Mister Spain pageant.
Though organizers
initially defended Bustillo's dethroning, arguing that
motherhood could hinder a winner from travel duties, they
overturned the rule as well as another that barred
transsexuals from the competition. Following a new law
passed in March that grants transsexuals the right to
change their official name and gender without the
requirement of surgical operation, transsexuals will
now be eligible in both the Miss and Mister pageants.
"Of course, their
morphology must match their civil status," a pageant
organizer told the AFP. (The Advocate)