First openly gay Miss Ameri nttant mak history | CNN

Contents:

• NASHVILLE'S SUZY WONG CROWNED MISS GAY AMERI
• MISS GAY AMERI IS TRYG TO KEEP DRAG PAGEANTS ALIVE
• MISS MISSOURI MAK HISTORY AS FIRST OPENLY GAY MISS AMERI NTTANT
• MISS AMERI NTT WEL FIRST OPENLY GAY NTTANT

NASHVILLE'S SUZY WONG CROWNED MISS GAY AMERI

She's fally won the top Wong, the drag-queen alter ego of Nashville chef and rtratr Arnold Myt, was crowned Miss Gay Ameri 2017 at the anizatn's annual pageant, held Memphis last weekend.

This is the 45th year of the, son of Thai rtrant pneer Patty Myt, who opened Internatnal Market 1975, has three properti Nashville, cludg alter-namake Suzy Wong's Hoe of Yum on Church Street and blvd and pm, both across the street om his mother's Belmont Boulevard market and wng, Suzy Wong was joed onstage by parents Patty and W Myt and sister Anna Gay Ameri was actually the brachild of a Nashville club owner named Jerry Peek, and the first petn took place the summer of 1972 Nashville at the former Watch Your Hat and Coat Saloon on Send Avenue and his partner renamed the place — signed as a untry-wtern mic bar — The Saloon and cid that "the female impersonatn thg would be different and would go over big, " Peek said a Tennsean terview revived the pageant aga 1973 at the Glass Menagerie on 16th Avenue. One of the early challeng of the pageant was fdg a chary that would accept what was then lled "gay" money. "In 2012 Myt won Miss Gay Tennsee Ameri and last year earned the crown as Miss Gay Wtern Stat Jim Myers at 615-259-8367 on Instagram@cularyand on Twter@ReadJimMyers.

-- After petg pageants for generatns the closet or workg behd the scen, gays and lbians fally get to see one of their own take one of pageantry’s biggt Missouri, Er O’Flaherty, will pete for the Miss Ameri crown this weekend as the first openly lbian nttant. “Behd the scen, we’ve been well-reprented, but I’m the first openly gay tle holr, so I’m very exced, ” she told The Associated Prs a recent terview. ”Dolly Parton helped gay fay members e outRich Helfant, executive director of the Greater Atlantic Cy GLBT Alliance, helps n the Miss’d Ameri pageant, a drag spoof of the Miss Ameri pageant that has bee popular Atlantic Cy as an entertament and fundraisg event.

MISS GAY AMERI IS TRYG TO KEEP DRAG PAGEANTS ALIVE

Miss’d Ameri took s name om the fact that many gay pageant workers toiled behd the scen durg Miss Ameri and never got to see what was happeng onstage. Lbian uple su New Jersey over fertily treatment law​The “Show Us Your Sho” para that has bee a fixture of Miss Ameri, which nttants ri vehicl on the Boardwalk and show off their state-themed footwear, sprang om the tert of gay spectators, he said.

”Antwan Lee, who won the Miss Gay Ameri 2016 pageant unr the stage name Asia O’Hara, would excedly watch Miss Ameri every year as a child and a young man, imagg what would be like onstage. “To see that on TV wh 50 women, as a young gay boy, that’s the first place you see such a ncentratn of that.

Hchen said the social activism of many Miss Ameri nttants ronat wh the gay muny; the Miss’d Ameri drag queen parody pageant rais $300, 000 a year for lol and natnal chari and has bee the top social event of the year Atlantic Cy’s gay Randle, chief operatg officer of the Miss Ameri Organizatn, said the pageant reflects an evolvg Ameri. “Through every major tone of our natn’s evolutn, Miss Ameri has provid a voice for women om all walks of life, and, this year, we wele our first openly gay nttant, ” he said.

MISS MISSOURI MAK HISTORY AS FIRST OPENLY GAY MISS AMERI NTTANT

In 1973, Norman Jon saw a flyer at an Arkansas bar for the first Miss Gay Ameri (MGA) pageant. And over the next four s, Miss Gay Ameri has mataed that foc on the "real"—drag that creat a female illn s performers.

The pageant also dified s l and expectatns; a Miss Gay Ameri n't have visible tattoos, for example, and mt drk her liquids through a, the pageant's 45th year, Miss Gay Ameri has moved toward a ls-rigid foc. "We want someone who n help make Miss Gay Ameri current, " said Arnold Myt, who performs drag as Suzy Wong and was 2017's Miss Gay Ameri. "In 2009, the first season of RuPl's Drag Race brought drag out of gay bars and tapulted to the natnal nscns a way hadn't que been before (plete wh Vasele filter).

MISS AMERI NTT WEL FIRST OPENLY GAY NTTANT

"Pageantry is like the llege of drag, " said Mart Cooper, whose drag persona Co Montre was crowned Miss Gay Ameri 2010 after that year's ial wner, Alyssa Edwards, was stripped of her crown. "Nolan, whose talent mix edy, dancg, and actg, won 2016's Miss Gay Oh Ameri.

"Nolan qualified for this year's MGA as Miss Gay Northeast Ameri 1st Alternate. "Watch Broadly meet London's female drag queens:In 2016, married uple Michael Dutzer and Rob Mansman cid to buy Miss Gay Ameri. "One of those plans saw Lady Gaga crowned as the first honorary Miss Gay Ameri.

The cisn ma headl across the ter and brought attentn to the said their eratn of Miss Gay Ameri will look to the future while keepg te to the past. "But 's one that n be seen as nstrictg, pecially as some other pageants, like Miss Gay US of A and Miss Contental, don't have the same rtrictns. Norman Jon, who owned the pageant s early years, talked about the recent live streamg of Miss Gay Arkansas and the e of drone technology for vio rerdgs—a far cry om the early days, when she had to vertly arrive at drag gigs to avoid beg harassed.