Miss North Florida 2025 winner Kayleigh Bush was stripped of her crown for refusing to sign a contract that would force her to acknowledge biological males who undergo sex reassignment surgery as “female” competitors in the pageant.
Key Takeaways
- Kayleigh Bush lost her Miss North Florida 2025 title after refusing to sign a contract defining “females” to include biological males who have undergone surgical procedures.
- The contract would have required Bush to compete against and acknowledge as female those who have had male-to-female sex reassignment surgery.
- Bush’s refusal was based on her religious beliefs that sex is immutable and determined at birth.
- Liberty Counsel is representing Bush, demanding her reinstatement and removal of the controversial contract language.
- The case highlights the growing conflict between traditional values and progressive gender ideology in American institutions.
Religious Convictions Versus Contract Requirements
Kayleigh Bush, a devout Christian with unwavering moral principles, found herself at a crossroads when presented with the Miss Florida Scholarship Program’s contract. The document included language that defined “female” to include biological males who had undergone sex reassignment surgery, particularly targeting minors aged 14 to 18. Bush immediately recognized this definition conflicted with her deeply held religious beliefs that a person’s sex is determined at birth and remains unchanged throughout life. Despite winning the crown, Bush could not compromise her convictions and requested the removal of this language from her contract.
Both the Miss Florida Scholarship Program and the Miss America Organization flatly refused her appeal, leaving Bush with an impossible choice: deny her faith or forfeit her title. She chose the latter, demonstrating remarkable courage in the face of significant personal cost. The pageant organizers’ insistence on this controversial definition highlights the growing pressure on traditional institutions to adopt progressive gender ideology, regardless of contestants’ religious freedoms or personal beliefs about biological reality.
Legal Challenge and Florida Law
Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit religious freedom organization, has stepped forward to represent Bush in her fight to reclaim her title. The legal group sent a demand letter to the pageant organizations, arguing that the contract’s definition of “female” violates Florida law and public policy. Liberty Counsel points out that Bush had already entered into an oral agreement with no indication that such a definition would be required, and claims the terms are void under Florida statutes which clearly define “sex” in biological terms.
“We commend Kayleigh Bush for taking a stand and refusing to sign the Miss America Organization’s contract that is infused with false gender ideology,” Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said. “A contract that defines ‘female’ to include boys 14-18 who have had medically castrated is an abandonment of reality and an endorsement of harming children. Kayleigh Bush should have her crown restored and these types of reprehensible contracts must be stopped,” stated Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver.
The legal team’s arguments reference Florida laws that prohibit the sterilization and castration of minors, directly contradicting the contract’s implicit endorsement of such procedures. They also cite a memorandum from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi against gender-affirming procedures for minors, aligning with President Trump’s January executive order withdrawing federal funding for certain gender-affirming procedures for minors. This case represents a significant challenge to the encroachment of gender ideology into traditional women’s spaces.
Growing Support for Bush’s Stand
As news of Bush’s disqualification spreads, prominent conservative and religious leaders are rallying to her defense. Janet Morana and Frank Pavone of Priests for Life have publicly voiced their support for Bush’s principled stand against what they see as an assault on biological reality and women’s spaces. Their statements reflect a growing pushback against the expansion of transgender inclusion policies that many conservatives believe undermine women’s rights and religious freedoms.
“Gender insanity is causing this courageous young woman with deep faith and immutable morals to give up on her dream,” Ms. Morana said. “I applaud her for taking her stand despite the great cost to her and I condemn the Miss America Organization for encouraging the gender mutilation of young boys,” said Ms. Morana .
The controversy surrounding Bush’s disqualification has ignited a national conversation about the rights of biological women in competitive spaces. Many supporters view this as yet another example of progressive ideology overriding common sense and traditional values. Bush’s willingness to sacrifice her crown rather than compromise her beliefs has made her a symbol of resistance against what conservatives see as the erasure of female identity. Her story represents the intensifying cultural clash between those who maintain that biological sex is immutable and those pushing for expanded definitions of gender identity in every aspect of American life.
