2015 was a big year for trans visibility in fashion and beauty, what with Caitlyn Jenner’s Vanity Fair cover and the & Other Stories all-trans ad campaign. But it looks like there’s still long way to go in other parts of the industry, as 29-year-old Jossy Yendall found out when she was recently thrown out of the Miss Galaxy beauty contest, because she was assigned a male gender at birth.

Yendall was originally selected to be a finalist in the beauty pageant, which is one of the largest of its kind in the UK. But when competition organisers realised they had not spotted her admission in her initial application that she was transgender, they denied her any involvement in the contest.

Yendall has now launched a petition calling for all trans people to be allowed to compete in mainstream beauty contests, which has almost 800 signatures already. “The whole point of my petition is to say this is the ruling that's in place. I think it's wrong and plenty of other people think it is wrong, so what can we do about it?” she told Dazed.

“I can't stress enough that I don't want to slander Miss Galaxy as an organisation. I'm just trying to highlight this issue. It's something that has happened to me, as well as my best friend, and it could happen to other people as well.”

Dazed also spoke to Hollie Perrie, director of Miss Galaxy UK who said: “We are the preliminary competition for the final of Miss Galaxy in America, so our finals abide by the rules set out by the Miss Galaxy pageant. That said it is a matter I have raised with the CEO of the Galaxy pageant in America and we will be discussing it further at the international finals later this year.”

“I do think it is absolutely fine (to have transgenders competing), but I'd also want to make sure it is something that the contestants who are already signed up would be comfortable with as well.”