Openly Gay Pageant Contestant to Vie for Miss America Spot
Analouisa Valencia is the first openly gay pageant contestant to compete in the Miss South Carolina pageant. If she wins, she'll become the first openly gay contestant to compete for the title of Miss America.
The Miss South Carolina pageant will be held Saturday night, and though Valencia has competed in pageants before, this is the first year she'll be doing so as an openly gay contestant.
"I was hiding who I was," says Valencia of the last time she competed in the Miss South Carolina pageant. "This is my first year coming out and saying, 'This is me, girls. Sorry, I'm going to be changing in the same dressing room as you. This is what's going to happen.'"
Valencia, a bilingual coach of Special Olympic athletes, is a native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, and is of mixed heritage. Her mother is African-American while her father is Mexican. Though she's been openly gay since 9th grade, the 19-year-old always hid her sexual orientation during competition. But not anymore.
“I want to show the judges who I really am,” she says. “I want to show them how passionate I am about my platform, how passionate I am for being an advocate for equality.”
Valencia's passion for equality could be seen as the byproduct of her South Carolinian upbringing, as the state ranks low on LGBT rights nationally. In addition to banning same-sex marriage, South Carolina does not afford housing, employment or hate-crime protections for members of the LGBT community. More archaic still, the state still has unconstitutional sodomy laws on the books.
But Valencia's advocacy does not end at LGBT rights. Among her other passions is helping those with special needs, having worked with the Special Olympics since the age of 8. Valencia, a student of Spartanburg Community College, intends to major in business at the University of South Carolina, in order to open up a gym of her own to train elite gymnasts and special needs students alike. Currently, she coaches at her old gymnastics center.
“I’ve experienced a lot of things in life. A lot of negativity. I’ve seen a lot of people get bullied, so I try to be on the up side of things,” she explained. “Special Olympics South Carolina is my platform and I’ve been working with them since I was 8-years-old. And I’ve seen so much discrimination towards people with special needs, and I’m Hispanic and African-American and I’ve seen a lot of discrimination there, as well as with other minorities. So, I try to be an advocate for equality for everyone and be that positive role model. If I can’t be that role model and be positive and comfortable in what I have to say then I shouldn’t have it as my platform.”
Valencia hopes to secure a spot in the Miss America pageant in September, along with the $25,000 scholarship and prestige that comes with the title of Miss South Carolina.
"If I bring back that crown to Spartanburg, that would be great, but if not, I did what the Lord had planned for me," she says.
Via: The Hollywood Gossip / Guardian Express