Kataluna Enriquez won the Miss Nevada election and will be the first trans woman to fight for the coveted Miss USA crown. She dedicated her victory to the LGBTQ community.
In a rainbow dress that she designed and tailored herself, Kataluna Enriquez won the Miss Nevada election last Sunday in Los Angeles. The 27-year-old is the first trans woman to take part in the national Miss USA competition.
“It’s a great honor to win this title, especially during Pride Month,” Enriquez told the Las Vegas Review Journal. Every year in June, the international LGBTIQ scene promotes more tolerance and celebrates the diversity of society. She wasn’t nervous, explains the winner. “I knew I had worked hard for this one attempt at making history.”
The next day, Enriquez thanked everyone who had supported her via Instagram post and addressed the LGBTQ community directly: “You are always in my heart. My victory is your victory.”
Miss Nevada wants to tell her story
Enriquez has Filipino roots and works as a fashion designer and healthcare professional. She has been taking part in transgender beauty pageants since 2016 and always had something bigger in mind than pure victory. She wanted to tell her story and show that she was more than a body, she said in an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal. “I told the judges that as a non-white trans woman and as a survivor of physical and sexual violence, I stand for everything that is underrepresented in this country.”
After a week’s vacation, the newly elected Miss Nevada is now preparing for the Miss USA election, which is to take place in November in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This time, too, she wants to tailor her costumes herself.
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