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A 19-year-old pageant winner who was stripped of her title for adhering to her biblical beliefs on gender and sexuality is now being recognized by Congress as “a modern-day Esther” for standing up for her convictions.
Kayleigh Bush was crowned as the Miss North Florida 2025 pageant winner in August 2024, but was denied the official title months later because she objected to an unbiblical definition of “female” presented in the Miss America contract.
According to the non-profit legal group Liberty Counsel, the Miss America Organization (MAO) revised the contract language after Bush won the title.
“Ultimately, the contract requires female beauty candidates to agree to compete against biological males – who have been subjected to medical mutilation as minor boys – and agree that these mutilated males are ‘female,'” Liberty Counsel, which represented Bush, explained.
Bush initially requested removal of the contract’s definitional language to keep from violating her religious beliefs and over concern for the safety of minor boys.
However, the Miss Florida Scholarship Program, Inc., and the Miss America Organization (MAO) denied her appeal. Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter on her behalf, requesting that they reconsider the contract language and restore Bush’s title so she could move forward in the Florida competition, scheduled for June 25-28, 2025.
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.”
“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 in a press statement following the release of the demand letter. “A contract that defines ‘female’ to include boys 14-18 who have been 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.”
Yet, both organizations twice refused Liberty Counsel’s request to revise the contract, leaving Bush no other choice but to walk away from her well-deserved crown.
However, Bush’s efforts to stand up for the truth are being recognized. The 19-year-old was crowned “Miss She Leads America” and was honored for her courage with the 2025 Young Christian Woman of Distinction award earlier this week.
Kayleigh Bush was stripped of her Miss North Florida 2025 title after refusing to sign a Miss America contract that falsely defined “female” to include castrated males. Rather than accept a lie, she gave up her crown.
But this weekend, Kayleigh was crowned “Miss She Leads… pic.twitter.com/CyXmMWSFhP
— Liberty Counsel (@libertycounsel) October 14, 2025
Her award was entered into the Congressional Record to honor her for standing up for her convictions.
Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) told Congress that Bush was “a modern-day Esther,” who is willing “to speak when the culture demands silence.”
“Her story reminds us that courage is contagious, truth is not negotiable, and that no earthly crown compares to the one given by Christ,” she declared.
McClain continued, “Today, we honor Kayleigh Bush—not just as the Canceled Crown, but as a living testimony of 1 Timothy 4:12: ‘Let no one look down on you because of your youth, but be an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.'”
Liberty Counsel is also applauding the young woman for her achievement.
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,” Staver said.
“Kayleigh is a shining example to young Americans who are willing to take a stand for truth,” he added.
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