Bailey Anne Kennedy and Sara Milliken both have much to celebrate this month, having been crowned winners of the respective pageants they prepped and primed and yearned for.

But first they have to defend their victories against a nascent crowd of gatekeepers who are suddenly very invested in preserving the integrity of beauty pageants.

And by integrity, I mean homogeny.

Kennedy, 31, was just crowned Miss Maryland USA, qualifying her for the Miss USA competition in August and, if she wins that, the Miss Universe pageant in September. She’s the first transgender woman and first Asian American woman to win Miss Maryland.

If she wins in August, she’ll be the first transgender woman and the oldest woman to be crowned Miss USA — though both Portugal and The Netherlands have crowned trans women to compete for Miss Universe and a trans woman from Nevada, Kataluna Enriquez, competed in the Miss USA pageant in 2021.

Not everyone is thrilled about these firsts. More on that in a minute.

Also this month, Sara Milliken, 23, was named Miss Alabama at the National American Miss pageant, a competition “based on the foundational principle of fostering positive self-image by enhancing natural beauty within” according to its website.

“Braces, glasses, skin problems, varying heights, weights and appearances, are all a part of creating the special and unique individual that you are and that we want to celebrate,” the National American Miss site reads.

Milliken is a plus-sized model, and her victory was met with the predictable, whiney cruelty that poisons the discourse whenever a woman is celebrated in spite of a body type that doesn’t match conventional ideals.

Both the Miss Maryland USA Organization and Milliken released statements defending themselves after their victories became talking points for some of the folks who peddle outrage for a living.

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