Yet many are still curious about the pageant’s first openly lesbian contestant – Miss Missouri Erin O’Flaherty.
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“Obviously you have to be pretty savvy to become Miss America”, he said.
Despite getting cut off for going over time during her question and answer portion while fielding a prompt on what she thinks about Hillary Clinton, the 21-year-old college student still took home the crown.
After taking the crown Sunday night, Shields said she hopes at the end of her yearlong reign “we’re starting to reward politicians for compromise”.
Meeting reporters after the pageant, Shields elaborated.
“Every single girl here would do an fantastic job as Miss America”, Shields said. Our country was founded on compromise.
Shields, who adopted “eat better, live better” as her platform for the competition, earlier performed a jazz dance to “They Just Keep Moving the Line” from the TV show “Smash”. “And with Shields and a Guardian, Atlantic City will be safe for another year!” She said she still has the soundtrack from the canceled TV show in her auto, where she plays it often.
First runner-up was Miss South Carolina Rachel Wyatt and second-runner up was Miss New York Camille Sims.
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Missouri’s Erin O’Flaherty, who in June became the first openly lesbian contestant in the history of the almost century-old pageant, failed to make the first cut of 15 selected from 52 entrants from the 50 USA states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
