Miss Maine USA Contestant Isabelle St. Cyr Announces Historic Participation in National Transgender Pageant (Exclusive)
- - Miss Maine USA Contestant Isabelle St. Cyr Announces Historic Participation in National Transgender Pageant (Exclusive)
Zoey LyttleFebruary 11, 2026 at 10:10 PM
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Isabelle St. Cyr.
Isabelle St. Cyr
This March, Isabelle St. Cyr is set to compete at Miss International Queen USA, the prestigious national pageant for transgender women
St. Cyr will be the first person to represent Maine at the event, which will be held in New Jersey
The history-making pageant contestant previously made headlines when she became the first trans woman to compete at Miss Maine USA in May 2025
Isabelle St. Cyr made history last year as the first-ever transgender Miss Maine USA contestant. Now, she's breaking even further new ground by appearing alongside 26 other trans women in the upcoming Miss International Queen USA pageant.
The 25-year-old revealed that she'll be participating in January, two months before the event's preliminary round is set to begin on Thursday, March 26, with finals the next day. St. Cyr will be the first person to represent her home state of Maine at the competition, which will be held in Atlantic City, N.J.
St. Cyr tells PEOPLE exclusively that she decided to participate in the pageant "to find community" and to demonstrate — both to herself and to the world — that she is capable of succeeding "in both mainstream and transgender pageantry."
Isabelle St. Cyr at Miss Maine USA.
Isabelle St. Cyr
"This is not just a movement, but my life," she says. "It is important that as trans women, we support our culture, and pageantry is a huge part of that. I want to be Miss International Queen USA to take my platform from a small town in Maine to a global stage."
Per the Miss International Queen USA website, the pageant's mission is "to elevate LGBTQIA+ and Transgender awareness and equality in both society and the workforce." The organization states that all profits from the competition go toward programs focused on change within the LGBTQIA+ community.
The winner of the national pageant will go on to represent the United States at Miss International Queen in Thailand, which is considered the world's largest pageant for transgender people.
In May 2025, St. Cyr's name appeared in many headlines when she competed at Miss Maine USA, where she shared the stage with Bill Belichick's girlfriend, Jordon Hudson. After the weekend-long event concluded, St. Cyr spoke to PEOPLE and reflected on the widespread media coverage that ranged in tone.
Though she admitted she didn't have much prior press experience, the pageant contestant noted that hateful comments are unfortunately nothing new to her.
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"It's stuff I've heard my entire transition," she said last spring. "I know the type of people that say those things, so I don't really take it to heart."
She added, "I just remained positive no matter what anyone was saying about it, I continued to know that I wanted to represent my platform, and this is unfortunately nothing new to me ... I don't really take it to heart."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
