Miss Dominican Republic 2012, Carlina Duran, Will Lose Crown Because She Is Married [PHOTOS]

A queen has lost her crown. Beauty queen Miss Dominican Republic 2012 will lose her title because she is married, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

Carlina Duran, the 25-year-old beauty queen who was crowned Miss Dominican Republic 2012 on April 17, will lose her crown because it was discovered that she wed in 2009. Director Magaly Febles told The AP that one of the Miss Dominican Republic rules clearly states that a contestant must be single to win the title.

Febles told the Dominican television news program Noticias SIN that former Miss Dominican Republic admitted she is married after the Dominican newspaper Diario Libre reported the news, according to The AP. Duran reportedly wed on June 6, 2009.

Contest organizer scheduled a news conference for Wednesday night, according to The AP, and will hand the crown over to the 24-year-old runner-up, Duclite Lieggi.

Carlina Duran was supposed to represent her country at the annual Miss Universe contest in December, but she will no longer be eligible. She has not publicly commented on her disqualification or her elimination as of yet.

This is the second guidelines scandal to hit the beauty pageant world in recent weeks.

In early-April, Jenna Talackova was disqualified from the Miss Universe Canada pageant after it was discovered that she is transgender.

Carlina Duran, Miss Dominican Republic 2012; Photo Courtesy of Facebook

Talackova was born a male but has lived her life as a female since starting hormone therapy at the age of 14. Although she checked off female on her Miss

 Universe Canada registry form, the organization questioned her natural born sex and ultimately disqualified her from the competition.

She did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form. We do, however, respect her goals, determination and wish her the best, said a statement released by the Miss Universe Canada organization, a Donald Trump-owned beauty pageant.

After a storm of controversy, Talackova was finally granted permission to compete. But her saga shined the spotlight on the glaringly outdated rules that still exist in the beauty pageant arena.

 The Miss Universe organization does not detail any natural born requirement in its FAQ section. It details specific age requirements (at least 18-years-old and under 27-years-old), marital status (currently single, never having been married and not pregnant) and citizenship (must be a citizen of the state/country she is competing in).    

Other beauty queens have acknowledged the need for reformation.

Jenna Talackova, Miss Universe Canada; Photo Courtesy of Twitter

I think it's outdated and I think that as a society we're evolving, Connie McNaughton, Miss World Canada 1984 and first-runner up at the contest's international event the same year, told the Canadian Press. There are certain countries who cosmetically, surgically, have their girls go and have updates. So (how different is it) if you've augmented your gender because in your heart and soul, you believe yourself to be a woman?

McNaughton said that pageant organizer are bound by rules handed down from the Miss Universe pageant organization. They're stuck. I can understand how this is a nightmare for the organizers because there's always going to be someone who's unhappy, she said. There's going to be parents of other girls who are not going to be happy if their daughters are beaten out by this person.