On 11th September 2016 USA will crown its new Miss America for the year 2017. The Miss America 2016 pageant has been garnering attention for various reasons, one of the reasons being a lesbian contestant. Yes, that’s right..!!
The delegate representing the state of Missouri Erin O’Flaherty wanted her fans to know few things about her - She was raised on a farm; she is a trained livestock judge; and she supports suicide-prevention programs. But what attracted so much attention to the brief get-to-know-me video is the fact that she is the first openly lesbian contestant to compete in the pageant.
Erin is being praised for her move and the beauty is breaking the notion that beauty pageant contestants are pre-decided to be a certain self and look a certain way.
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“She is changing the conversation and proving to people that you can be who you are,” said Steve Mendelsohn, the deputy executive director of the Trevor Project, which works to end suicide among LGBTQ youth. “The pageant is really about the beauty of individuals. And individuals come in all identities.”
“I want to get the conversation away from my sexuality, and I hope that by the end of the year that will be the conversation we are having,” Erin said during a telephonic interview. “I think other people tend to focus on it, but it is one small part of who I am and the work that I do. It is just as important for people to realize I am not one dimensional.”
Erin has chosen a critical issue of suicide among LGBTQ youth as her social memo of the pageant. On one side the beauty queen is being appreciated for her bold step and grave cause. “As a young gay man living in a very rural town in Missouri I thought I was damaged, unlovable and couldn’t be successful. No matter what the outcome of this contest, please remember that your courage to be visible has changed the outlook of so many,” a fan wrote on the Facebook page where Erin has been posting updates about the Miss America contest.
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But at the same time, Erin is also being criticized by few for her sexual orientation. “This contest is for women, not homo’s,” a reader wrote in the comments section. “Stop disgracing the pageant and drop out.”
But Erin moves ahead with all her grace and focus and says that she is not going to let herself get bothered by any of the negative comment.
Erin grew up in Ohio and South Carolina. After graduating from college in 2015 she moved to St. Louis, where she owns a clothing boutique with her aunt.
We personally feel that Erin O’Flaherty has shown some guts to come out and share something that is looked at with raised eyebrows. We don’t see why a contestant shouldn’t be allowed to compete at a beauty pageant because she has a different sexual preference than the others. What do you think?
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