Beauty queen Kayleigh Bush didn't lose her crown for breaking a rule. She lost it, she says, because she refused to sign a new contract tied to Miss America's updated policies — including language she believes redefines what it means to be a woman.
Bush, who was crowned Miss North Florida in September 2024, was stripped of her title two months later after declining to sign a revised contract from theMiss Americaorganization.
According to the updated eligibility rules, contestants must be women aged 18–28, unmarried, with no children, and U.S. citizens. In this case, "women" includes those born female or"an individual who has fully completed Sex Reassignment Surgery via Vaginoplasty (from male to female)."
Bush says that change is what prompted her to take a stand.
"I was asked to sign a contract that was different than the first one that I had agreed to because they had changed it four weeks after I rightly won," Bushtold TMZthis week. "So I didn't lose my crown because I broke a rule. I lost the crown because I was unwilling to rewrite the truth."
RELATED:Biological Male Rikkie Valerie Kolle Wins Miss Netherlands Crown, Will Compete For Miss Universe
Bush said she and her mother immediately raised concerns.
"We got on a conference call immediately with one of the directors for the Miss America organization," the 19-year-old explained. "And weeks and weeks and weeks of pleading with them, sending videos, sending letters, emails, demand letters through Liberty Counsel — because they picked up my case — and they just said ‘no, no, no,’ and they doubled down."
When asked what specifically prompted her being stripped of her crown, Bush was direct.
"Declining to sign the contract. Because I couldn't agree that a little boy could mutilate his body and become a woman," she said.
Source: The Latest & Most Breaking News With OutKick