First Openly Gay Miss America Contestant Eliminated Sunday Night

Erin O'Flaherty is the first openly gay contestant to compete in the Miss America Pageant. Unfortunately though, when the final 15 contestant's names were called Sunday evening, O'Faherty's was not among them.

Already having made history before the competition began, O'Flaherty was honored to represent her community.

Related | Meet Erin O'Flaherty, the First Openly Gay Miss America Contestant

In an interview with the Associated Pressbefore starting Miss America, she said what the new title meant to her:

"Behind the scenes, we've been well-represented, but I'm the first openly gay title holder, so I'm very excited," O'Flaherty said. "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."

LGBT representation in the competition in years past has been minimal. Djuan Trent was a lesbian contestant in the Miss America Pageant back in 2011, but didn't publicly come out as gay until 2014.

The winner of the pageant was later named to be Miss Arkansas, Savvy Shields.