JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Facing pressure from Miss North Florida 2025, Liberty Counsel and Florida’s Attorney General, Miss America has changed a controversial provision in its contestant contracts.
That contract previously included a definition of female, which included individuals who “fully completed Sex Reassignment Surgery”.
After Kayleigh Bush won the Miss North Florida pageant in 2024, she refused to sign that contract, arguing it stood in opposition to her personal and religious beliefs.
“She can’t sign something where she believes that boys can become girls, boys can’t be girls,” said Mat Staver with Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Christian advocacy group that’s been working with Bush for the past year.
Staver explained Bush’s refusal to sign resulted in her being stripped of the benefits of her title.
“She was prevented from continuing the competition, she was prevented from any scholarship that she otherwise was entitled to,” Staver said.
On Friday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier accused Miss America of violating Florida law for false advertising, as he argued the pageant claims to be for “women only”.
Miss America General Counsel Stuart Moskovitz responded in his own letter sent to Uthmeier, calling the Attorney General’s letter “defamatory”.
Moskovitz told Action News Jax the contract language was intended to protect people born with female chromosomes who were also born with male genitalia.
“Without the language to which Kayleigh objects, someone born with two X chromosomes, biologically a woman, could compete with male genitalia,” Moskovitz wrote in his letter to Uthmeier. ”Miss America has the absolute right to prevent that from happening.”
Late Friday afternoon, Moskovitz provided a photo of updated contractual language clarifying that intent.
The language now specifies that the reassignment surgery provision only applies to “an intersex female individual (defined as one born with two X chromosomes with nonconforming genitalia)”.
Moskovitz told Action News Jax the new contract language was drafted “a few months ago” and will appear on contestant contracts for competitions this year.
In response to the new language, Liberty Counsel sent Action News Jax a statement saying it was “pleased” with the development.
“Miss America should now reinstate the benefits of Kayleigh Bush’s crown, including the scholarship that she rightfully deserves,” a spokesperson for Liberty Counsel wrote.
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