NEW YORK — A rule change that would allow transgender women to participate in the Miss Universe beauty pageant next year is a step forward for equality, advocates said Tuesday after pageant officials announced the policy shift.

Pageant officials said they are working on the language of the official rule policy change but expected final word to come soon. The rules will have to be approved by Donald Trump, who runs the Miss Universe Organization, and NBC. Trump and NBC co-own the contest.

The announcement of the policy change comes a week after the organization decided to allow Jenna Talackova to compete for Canada’s spot in the Miss Universe pageant this year.

Talackova, a Vancouver resident, underwent sex reassignment surgery four years ago after being born a male. The advocacy group GLAAD called on the Miss Universe Organization to review her case, as well as open the competition to transgender women, after she was disqualified from competing in the Miss Universe Canada contest next month.

“We want to give credit where credit is due, and the decision to include transgender women in our beauty competitions is a result of our ongoing discussions with GLAAD,” said Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization. “We have a long history of supporting equality for all women, and this was something we took very seriously.”

The Miss Universe Organization produces the pageant, as well as the Miss USA and the Miss Teen competitions, according to the organization’s website. The Miss Universe pageant began in 1952 as a local “bathing beauty” contest, headed by California-based Catalina Swimwear, the site says.

Trials for next year’s Miss Universe pageant begin this summer.

“Everybody should be allowed to participate in every aspect of society,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. “Absolutely it’s good news, it’s another pernicious structural discrimination barrier taken down.”

Susan Stryker, director of the Institute for LGBT Studies at the University of Arizona, said she hoped to see similar progress in areas that would affect more people – like employment discrimination issues and anti-transgender violence.

Jury picked for trial in killings of Hudson’s family

CHICAGO — Jury selection wrapped up Tuesday for the Chicago trial of the man accused of killing the mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew of actress and singer Jennifer Hudson.

The final four panelists were chosen on the second day of one-by-one questioning of prospective jurors.

Among them was someone who served years ago on the jury of another murder trial.

The 14 selected earlier to hear evidence against William Balfour included a teacher, an unemployed bank teller and a chocolate-company employee..

Before he let those chosen Tuesday head home, Judge Charles Burns warned them not to watch “American Idol” this Thursday because Hudson may appear on the show, on which she first rose to fame as a contestant in 2004.

“Please don’t watch it,” he said firmly.

Inspiration for Homer Simpson’s home is revealed

PORTLAND, Ore. — One of the best-kept secrets in television history has been revealed, with “The Simpsons” creator pointing to Springfield, Ore., as the inspiration for the animated hometown of Homer and family.

Matt Groening told Smithsonian magazine, published online Tuesday, that he was inspired by the TV show “Father Knows Best,” which took place in a place called Springfield. Springfield, Ore., is 100 miles south of Groening’s hometown of Portland.

“When I grew up, I realized it was just a fictitious name,” Groening told the magazine. “I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S.

“In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, ‘This will be cool; everyone will think it’s their Springfield.’ And they do,” he said.

Groening said he has long given fake answers when asked about the Simpsons’ hometown, leaving open the possibility that his latest one is itself another fake.

The show has made a running joke of hiding the true Springfield’s location. In one episode, daughter Lisa points to Springfield on a map, but the animated “camera view” is blocked by son Bart’s head.

People in the real Springfield – the one in Oregon – took on the mantle of the show’s hometown after Groening visited during a tour before the 2007 film “The Simpsons Movie.”

When Springfield community-relations manager Niel Laudati was told about Groening’s announcement, he said: “Oh OK, we knew that.”

The city has already incorporated the Simpsons into its own town lore. The Springfield Museum features a couch similar to the animated one shown in the show’s opening credits, and a plaque marking the movie’s release.

“Yo to Springfield, Oregon – the real Springfield!” Groening wrote. “Your pal, Matt Groening proud Oregonian!”

The Springfield depicted in “The Simpsons” isn’t always a flattering portrait. The school is falling apart, there’s a constant fire at the town dump and Mayor Quimby is chronically, helplessly corrupt.

“We kind of got past it,” Laudati said. “We don’t dwell on the bad stuff. Obviously we don’t have a nuclear power plant. We don’t have a lot of stuff in the Simpsons.

“What we do have are a lot of blue-collar working families that go to church every week and eat dinner together,” Laudati said “That is accurate.”

The series has been on the air for more than 20 years, becoming the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program and a cultural phenomenon with colleges devoting courses to studying it.