Trump welcomed transgender women in his Miss Universe pageant years before he started campaigning on excluding them from women's sports
- Trump took credit in 2012 for ending the Miss Universe pageant's ban on transgender women.
- He welcomed the participation of Jenna Talackova, a 23-year-old transgender woman, CNN reported.
Former President Donald Trump has become an outspoken critic of transgender women competing in women's sports, frequently discussing the topic at his rallies, but in the past welcomed them in the beauty pageant he ran.
CNN's Andrew Kaczynski resurfaced Trump's stance on trans women competing in the Miss Universe pageant, which he owned from 1996 to 2015. Trump gave several TV and radio interviews in 2012 in which he celebrated the participation of Jenna Talackova, a 23-year-old transgender woman, for partaking in a pageant in Canada, CNN reported.
Several news reports from April 2012 credit Trump specifically with reversing the pageant's ban on transgender women. Trump told CNN at the time he and the Miss Universe Organization had decided to reverse the ban even before they'd heard that Talackova had enlisted women's rights lawyer Gloria Allred to help her challenge it.
Michael Cohen, then Trump's personal lawyer, told E! News that Trump and the organization made the "fair and just decision" to allow Talackova to compete in the Miss Universe 2012 Canada pageant.
"Pageant rules have been modernized to ensure this type of issue does not occur again," Cohen said, adding: "We hope Jenna will now turn her focus to preparing for the upcoming competition. Like all the contestants, Mr. Trump wishes Jenna the best of luck in her quest for the crown."
Trump even praised comments made on stage in 2012 by Miss USA Olivia Culpo in response to a question about trans women competing in the pageant.
"I do think that that would be fair, but I can understand that people would be a little apprehensive to take that road because there is a tradition of natural-born women," Culpo said. "But today where there are so many surgeries and so many people out there who have a need to change for a happier life, I do accept that because I believe it's a free country."
In a June 2012 appearance on Fox News, Trump said Culpo "gave a great answer," CNN reported.
Trump's tone on transgender women competing in women's sports has been pointedly different on the 2024 campaign trail. In countless rallies and speeches, Trump has railed against transgender women and claimed they are destroying women's sports. Trump has also vowed to "ban men from participating in women's sports" and ban "child sexual mutilation." Transgender teens rarely undergo gender confirmation surgery and more commonly receive hormone treatment. Nationally used guidelines say surgery should only even be considered for patients who are at least 15.
Last week Trump noted during a speech that discussing transgender topics worked up a crowd far more than discussing cutting taxes. "It's amazing how strongly people feel about that," he said of transgender issues, adding: "Five years ago you didn't know what the hell it was."
The American Medical Association this week strengthened its policy on protecting gender-affirming care in response to potential legal or criminal penalties adopted by states.
Trump's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.