PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon man who identifies as a woman, and who has been allowed to participate in other beauty competitions, has filed suit against United States of America Pageants for denying his application to the Miss Oregon United States of America pageant due to eligibility rules that limit contestants to biological women only.

“I felt as though I was being invalidated,” the man, who goes by the name Anita Green, told Williamette Week. “I felt as though the organization was saying I am not a woman and I’m not woman enough.”

According to reports, Green, 29, participated in the 2017 Miss Montana USA contest and also won this year’s Miss Earth Elite Oregon. Last year, after being friended on Facebook, he contacted the director of the Miss Oregon United States of America pageant to inquire about the contest, and was encouraged to apply.

“You know I’m transgender, right?” Green wrote to director Tanice Smith after being provided a link to the rules, according to Williamette Week.

“I did not,” Smith replied. “Our rules and regulations allow same-sex marriage; however, this is a natural pageant.”

When asked if the organization might be open to changing the eligibility requirements in order to accommodate transgenders, Smith said that she did not see that happening but offered to find Green another pageant for which he would qualify.

Green applied for the pageant anyway, but his entry fee was returned.

He asserts that the rejection, and the rule, are discriminatory and a violation of Oregon’s public accommodation law.

“I believe that this is a violation because I don’t think someone shouldn’t be allowed to compete simply because they are transgender. I think that that’s very arbitrary,” Green told NPR. “Transgender women are equal to cisgender women.”

“Defendant’s ‘natural born female’ policy is not only unlawful, but it sends a hurtful and false message to transgender women that they are not women,” his lawyer, Shenoa Payne, also told The Oregonian. “Pageants that operate in Oregon must comply with Oregon law and may not discriminate on the basis of gender identity.”

Green and Payne have now filed suit to challenge the eligibility requirement.

“Defendant intentionally enacted this policy to exclude and prevent transgender females from participating in defendant’s pageants and receiving the full and equal privileges and advantages of defendant’s services,” the legal complaint reads. “Defendant’s policy has no legitimate purpose other than to exclude and discriminate against transgender females.”

“Defendant’s policy on its face is impossible to actually enforce, as it ignores that biological sex is not binary (only male or female), and sex assignment at birth is not conclusive evidence of the sex of a child because components of biological sex are more complex than external genitals and includes chromosomes, genes, hormones, internal genitalia, gender identity, and secondary sex characteristics,” it claims.

The lawsuit states that Green participates in pageants because they “contribute to [his] sense of femininity and beauty, … play a vital role in boosting [his] confidence, improving [his] public speaking skills, making [him] feel heard, giving [him] a public platform in which to discuss important social issues, and allowing [him] to be a positive and inspiring example to all women.”

“This is about giving minorities a voice,” Green told Williamette Week. “I believe I’m beautiful, and I want to set an example for all women — cisgender and transgender — that beauty doesn’t have to fit into specific molds.”

Read the legal complaint in full here. 

As previously reported, while some view transgenderism as a medical condition, Christians believe the matter as a spiritual issue — one that stems from the same predicament all men everywhere face without Christ.

The Bible teaches that all are born with the Adamic sin nature, having various inherent feelings and inclinations that are contrary to the law of God, and being utterly incapable of changing by themselves.

It is why Jesus came: to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21) and from the wrath of God upon transgressors (Romans 5:9).

Romans 4:25 states that the Messiah gave Himself “for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.”

Jesus outlined in John 3:5-7 that men must be regenerated by the second birth, and be transformed from being in Adam to being a new creation in Christ, or they cannot see the kingdom of Heaven. It is known in Christianity as the doctrine of regeneration and is a working of the Holy Spirit.

“Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’

Nicodemus saith unto him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’

Jesus answered, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ‘Ye must be born again.’”

Ephesians 2:1-7 states, “And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience — among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved) and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

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