Pageant has openly gay queen
After competing in pageants for generations in the closet or working behind the scenes, gays and lesbians finally get to see one of their own take one of pageantry’s biggest stages.
Miss Missouri, Erin O’Flaherty, will compete for the Miss America crown as the first openly lesbian contestant.
“Behind the scenes, we’ve been wellrepresented, but I’m the first openly gay title holder, so I’m very excited,” she said in a recent interview. “I knew going in that I had the opportunity to make history. Now I get to be more visible to the community and meet more people.”
The next Miss America will be crowned Sunday in Atlantic City.