Arts & Entertainment
Miss Missouri is first openly gay Miss America contestant
the 23-year-old makes Miss America history
Erin O’Flaherty is Miss Missouri 2016. Congratulations! #MissAmerica pic.twitter.com/AjuEJdqjMG
— Miss America Org (@MissAmericaOrg) June 19, 2016
Erin O’Flaherty is the first openly gay Miss America contestant after being crowned Miss Missouri on Saturday.
O’Flaherty, 23, told Associated Press she came out at 18. She says she plans to use her reign as Miss Missouri to bring attention to suicide prevention and while she will advocate for the LGBT community, it won’t be her only focus.
“My focus of my year isn’t going to be that I’m gay,” O’Flaherty told Associated Press. “It’s certainly a big part of who I am, and I will be promoting it and raising awareness for the LGBT community. But also there will be many appearances that I do that have nothing to do with that. And so I’m hoping that I can strike a really nice balance of staying true to the values of Miss Missouri and also being able to exercise my personal views.”
The Miss America pageant will air on Sunday, September 11 from Atlantic City, N.J. on ABC.
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