Miss Missouri Erin O’Flaherty Becomes First Openly Gay Miss America Contestant

Erin O’Flaherty made history when she was crowned Miss Missouri on Saturday, not only becoming the first gay Miss Missouri, but also becoming the first openly gay Miss America beauty pageant contestant.

Miss Missouri Comes Out

O’Flaherty publicly came out as gay after her Saturday crowning. “I’m on cloud nine really just to be Miss Missouri. I don’t know that I intended to be the first [gay winner], but I am. So I’m very excited about it,” she said.

The pageant winner added that while she is proud to be gay and proud to be making history, she doesn’t want her sexuality to be the focus of her time as Miss Missouri. Instead, she wants to focus on suicide prevention, making that her platform of interest.

“My focus of my year isn’t going to be that I’m gay,” said O’Flaherty. “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.”

O’Flaherty will compete against the other state beauty pageant winners at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. on Sept. 11.