08/18/2026
As we have begun sharing the future of Trans USA and the changes coming for 2027, we believe it is equally important to share how we are honoring the people whose experiences helped inform many of those changes.
The Class of 2025 experienced a difficult and uncertain chapter in the history of Trans USA. Their experience did not always reflect the consistency, communication, stability, or level of support they deserved. We cannot rewrite their experience, and we do not believe growth comes from pretending difficult chapters did not happen. It comes from listening to the people who lived them.
The experiences and feedback of the Class of 2025, including our national court, have contributed to changes in how we communicate, how we organize, how we support contestants, how we structure competition, and how we think about our responsibility to the people who place their trust in Trans USA. And while learning from their experience matters, we also believe our responsibility to this class requires action. We have therefore made several commitments specifically to the Class of 2025.
Every member of the Class of 2025 has been offered the opportunity to defer their participation to any Trans USA competition cycle from 2027 through 2031. For those who choose to return, the registration fee will be completely waived, and their new sash will be provided and shipped at the organization's expense.
These conversations also challenged us to look beyond the Class of 2025 and ask a broader question: What should every contestant be able to expect from Trans USA?
Beginning with the Class of 2027, every registered contestant will receive access to an expanded collection of resources and benefits, including an official Trans USA email address, Google Workspace for Business, Slack Pro, Canva Pro, professional trainings and workshops, discounted souvenir book advertising, and additional resources and opportunities throughout the year.
However, resources only have value when people know they exist, understand how to access them, and know what is expected of them. That is why we are also changing the infrastructure surrounding the contestant experience.
Official Trans USA email accounts, Google Workspace, and Slack will give representatives centralized places for organizational communication, documents, calendars, deadlines, forms, announcements, and direct access to one another and our team. Rather than important information being scattered across personal email accounts, social media messages, text threads, and different platforms, our goal is to create a clearer and more consistent communication structure from registration through Nationals.
We have also substantially revised our Contestant Handbook and Representative Agreement to provide clearer expectations and reduce ambiguity, while a comprehensive Organizational Handbook is being developed to ensure contestants, volunteers, staff, and leadership are working from shared policies and procedures.
These may sound like administrative changes, but to us they represent something much larger: We want every contestant to understand from the beginning what their investment provides, what they can expect from us, where to find the information they need, and where to go when they need help. The Class of 2025 helped us understand more clearly why that matters. And one of the ways we can honor what we learned from them is to make the experience stronger, clearer, and more supportive for every class that follows.
But there is another commitment we have made that cannot be summarized in a benefits package: We have committed to keeping the conversation open.
Members of the Class of 2025 have been invited to bring us their questions, concerns, frustrations, and ideas. Because trust cannot happen through an announcement. It happens through listening. It happens through accountability. And, most importantly, it happens through what we do next.
We share this publicly today not because we are looking for recognition for doing what we believe is right. We share it because transparency matters. Our community deserves to know not only what Trans USA is promising for the future but how we are also working to honor those who were here during a difficult chapter of our past.
To every member of the Class of 2025:
Thank you for the work you have done in your communities. Thank you for the platforms you have built, for the organizations and causes you have supported, for the conversations that were sometimes difficult but necessary, and for giving us the opportunity to listen, learn, rebuild, and do better.
We know that trust is not restored simply because an organization says the right things. It is earned by what happens afterward.
We do not claim perfection. We do promise continued growth. We promise to keep listening, to remain open to difficult conversations. And we promise to continue working toward a Trans USA that is more professional, more transparent, more sustainable, and more responsive to the community it exists to serve.
As we mentioned earlier, we cannot control every challenge that exists beyond our doors. But we can choose the kind of community we build within them. And we intend to build one where people are respected, celebrated, supported, heard, and empowered to thrive.
The Class of 2025 will always be part of that story. And whenever they are ready, there will be a place for them here.
With gratitude, humility, and tremendous hope for what comes next,
Trans USA National Pageantry
IMPORTANT NOTE: We understand that email addresses and contact information often change from year to year. If you’re a member of the Trans USA Class of 2025 who has not received the August 3rd email package from us regarding deferral, please reach out to [email protected] with your updated contact address.
www.transusanationalpageantry.com
