Up Top, Progressive Bros, For We Just Picked A Lesbian To Compete In Miss America For The First Time

Progressive history was just made, Bros. In Missouri, of all places.

That’s because the Show Me State just elected an openly gay woman to represent their state at the Miss America pageant in September.

Erin O’Flaherty, 23, has been out since she was 18, and been competing openly in pageants since then. She’s the first openly gay woman to hold the title of Miss Missouri, and it’s believed she will be the first gay woman to compete in Miss America.

Her platform is suicide prevention, an important topic, especially for LBGTQ youths.

Speaking to the Riverfront Times, she said, “I don’t carry a rainbow flag with me everywhere I go, you know. It’s not going to be my focus, but I certainly hope my presence will help people open up a little bit more. I’m very open about it. It’s never going to be something I try to hide because I’m very proud to be a member of the LGBT community.”

Awesome. Here she is. Miss Missouri.

The Miss America pageant will take place on September 11th in Atlantic City. BroBible will be pulling for her.

[Via People]