File this one under “outcomes we could have predicted.” A federal court last week determined that a beauty pageant association could exclude a transgender “female” (i.e., a male) from participating in one of its contests. The decision Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit was a major win for the First Amendment right to be free from compelled speech.
A federal appellate court says a national beauty pageant has a First Amendment right to exclude a transgender woman from competing, because including her could interfere with the message the pageant wants to send about the “ideal woman.”