Proverbs 31:30 states, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.”
The above verse was recently exemplified in a remarkable story of a young woman from Florida.
19-year-old Kayleigh Bush is a Christian who won the Miss North Florida 2025 pageantโonly to be stripped of the crown because of her bold stance for Biblical truth. Although Miss America didn’t take kindly to her convictions, Bush is now being recognized by the United States Congress as “a modern-day Esther” for her refusal to ignore God’s Word.
In August of 2024, Bush won the competition, moving her forward to compete for Miss Florida. However, four weeks after she won the title, the organization added a contract provision that would require her to abandon the Biblical and scientific definition of a “woman” to accommodate biologically male competitors. Miss America denied Bush’s request to change the language of the contract, retiring her title and rejecting multiple appeals.
“Ultimately, the contract requires female beauty candidates to agree to compete against biological males โ who have been subjected to medical mutilation as minor boys โ and agree that these mutilated males are ‘female,'” Liberty Council, who represented Bush, detailed in a statement, noting that Bush could not sign the contract due to her “religious, scientific, political and moral beliefs that sex is immutable.”
“The word ‘female’ indeed ‘means a born female,'” Liberty Council wrote, calling the contract “offensive to female dignity.”
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver added: โKayleigh 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. Forcing women to sign a contract that boys can become girls is an insult to women. I am honored to know and represent Kayleigh Bush, not because she was crowned Miss North Florida but because she would not accept a lie. Kayleigh is a shining example to young Americans who are willing to take a stand for truth.โ
Bush may have been denied the Miss America crown for her faith in Christ, but others were unwilling to allow her stand to go unnoticed. Earlier this month, Bush was honored on Capitol Hill with the “Miss She Leads America” award, which was entered into the congressional record.
Representative Lisa McClain (R-MI) powerfully spoke before Congress, applauding the young woman for her Biblical courage to “choose truth over a title.”
“Kayleigh represents a modern-day Esther: one who is willing to speak when the culture demands silence,” McClain highlighted. “Her story reminds us that courage is contagious, truth is not negotiable, and that no earthly crown compares to the one given by Christ.”
“Her boldness has been recognized nationally,” she continued. “Today, we honor Kayleigh Bushโnot 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.’ Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating this outstanding woman of distinction.”
Kayleigh Bush, in an interview with Liberty Counsel, discussed the pagent world and how it has always been her desire to show girls that their “beauty comes from their Heavenly Father.”
When she was faced with whether or not to compromise, she was determined to “speak the truth boldly.”
“If we lose the very basic truth that we know, America is doomed. We have to get back on the right track, and Miss America is definitely going down the wrong track,” she stressed. “We are honored to have the basic right to freedom of expression, and voting your voiceโuse that voice to stand up for the truth.”
“This crownโthis earthly crownโis nothing comparable to the crown that I will receive in heaven,” Bush emphasized.
“I remember really thinking that Miss America would change their contract and stop promoting the harm of children, but so far they have doubled down and refused,” Bush stated, calling the promotion of transgenderism on children “barbaric.”
“I could not compromise the truth for a lie that harms children,” she continued. “I have a verse weighing on my heart: Matthew 18:6. Whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for them to have a millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. That’s what Miss America is doing. They are causing these little children to stumble, and the consequence of that will be great. God’s children are God’s children. They’re precious. My heart breaks for those who fall and believe the lie that a boy can become a girl and a girl can become a boy, because it is absolutely not true.”
Bush has not only taken a brave stance on Biblical sexuality and gender, she has also done so in support of the Jewish State amid rising anti-semitism on college campuses.
On the first anniversary of the Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israelis on October 7th, Bush helped plant Israeli flags, educate students on the war, raise awareness on the need to preserve Judeo-Christian values, and urge youth to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6)
“I stand with Israel,” she wrote. “On October 7th, we did not forget the 1,200 innocent lives lost in the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. Educating my peers on the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust was truly a blessing.”
