Kayleigh holds her award entered into Congressional Record

Kayleigh and Faith & Liberty's Peggy Nienaber

Liberty Counsel previously sent a demand letter to the Miss Florida Scholarship Program, Inc., and the Miss America Organization (MAO) after they refused and denied her appeals to reconsider the contract language and restore Bush’s title so that she could compete in the Miss Florida Competition scheduled for June 25-28, 2025. Bush was crowned in September 2024 and denied the benefits of the title in November after objecting to the false definition as contrary to her religious beliefs and Florida law. 

Ultimately, the contract requires female beauty candidates to agree to compete against biological males – who have been subjected to irreversible surgical procedures as minor boys – and agree that these males are “female.” 

The contract language states that applicants must be “female,” and that “female” means: 

“[A]n individual who has fully completed Sex Reassignment Surgery [sic] via Vaginoplasty (from male to female) [sic] with supporting medical documentation and records. Supporting medical documentation must be in the form of the certification attached, signed by the surgeon who performed the surgery and notarized, along with a copy of board certification and a current medical license. No alternative gender affirming [sic] surgery will suffice as acceptable in place of a Vaginoplasty [sic].” 

In the letter, Liberty Counsel explained that Bush objects to the definition based on her “religious, scientific, political and moral beliefs that sex is immutable” and that “individuals are born and remain either male or female.” 

“[T]he word ‘female’ indeed ‘means a born female’ and that it is offensive to female dignity to require females to compete against males claiming to be the opposite sex,” reads the letter. Since the eligibility age for certain pageants is 14-18, Bush’s “strongest objection” is to how the additional definition of “female” also “incentivizes and promotes grievous harm to the health and safety of minor boys.”

However, both organizations have twice refused Liberty Counsel’s request to revise the contract. 

Liberty Counsel noted Bush first entered into an oral agreement after winning her title where there had been no mention or public-facing materials put forth by the organizations indicating they subscribed to this “false” definition of “female.”

Kayleigh and her parents

Kayleigh and Rep. Nancy DeBoer and She Leads America Founder, Liz Doyle

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Kayleigh Bush is a young woman of integrity who gave up her crown rather than accept a lie that boys can be girls. The Miss America Organization has lost its way and needs to return to common sense and biological reality. Miss America has always honored women until now. Forcing women to sign a contract that boys can become girls is an insult to women. I am honored to know and represent Kayleigh Bush, not because she was crowned Miss North Florida but because she would not accept a lie. Kayleigh is a shining example to young Americans who are willing to take a stand for truth.”