Miss America welcomes first openly gay contestant, Miss Missouri Erin O'Flaherty

An openly gay contestant is taking part in Miss America for the first time this week.

Erin O'Flaherty was crowned Miss Missouri in June, giving her the chance to compete for the crown.

She is also the first to win a state title after coming out. She told her family she was a lesbian five years ago aged 18.

There have been other gay contestants but they haven't come out until after the competition ended.

The pageant is a scholarship reward programme for women in America.

Erin won Miss Missouri earlier this year.

The competition is judged on the women's looks, a talent they perform and their "platform" - a social cause which is important to the contestant.

On her social media accounts, Erin explains that her platform is suicide prevention and she will perform Mad Hatter from the musical Wonderland as her talent.

Erin keeps her fans up to date on her Twitter page.

The 23-year-old was raised on a farm near St Louis and is actually trained in livestock judging.

She spoke to the Associated Press ahead of the competition, which started earlier this week.

"I knew going in that I had the opportunity to make history. Now I get to be more visible to the community and meet more people."

She shares her tips for success on Twitter.

Previous Miss America contestant Djuan Trent competed as Miss Kentucky in 2011 but at the time her sexuality wasn't public.

Patricia Yurena has won Miss Spain twice and finished as a runner up once.

She's since announced on social media that she is a lesbian.

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