This. Is. AWESOME!!
Former Miss America contestant Djuan Trent decided to share a detail of her life that never came up during the Q&A portion of the competition and officially came out to the world as gay in a blog post!
She wrote:
“I have written and re-written and deleted and restarted this post more times than I care to share, and after all of that I have finally realized: ‘There ain’t nothin’ to it, but to do it.’ So, here we go folks… I am queer.”
Coming out publicly is ALWAYS a huge deal no matter what. But the fact that Djuan is Miss Kentucky and represents a state that doesn’t recognize gay marriage is what really makes this stand out!
While her home state’s anti-gay legislation certainly played a role in her decision to come out, she also mentioned in a followup post how Ellen Page‘s recent coming out speech really resonated with her as well:
“Ellen Page shared the burden that she carried in watching those around her be strong and stand up and fight for change, but not doing that for herself sooner. Listening to her speech, I was able to relate on so many levels. But this is what really hit me: ‘I am tired of lying by omission…’ Girl, what?! For real! Lying by omission and using non-descript pronouns…that gets really old, really quick.”
Just as Ellen has inspired her, we’re sure she’ll help other women struggling with the same issues she has, especially in a community where being gay is NOT easy!
We’re so proud of Djuan and glad she felt she was able to share this part of her life with the world! Congrats, girl!
[Image via Getty Images.]
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