Free Republic

Alabama Native Wins Miss America As Miss New YorkCBS 42..comJanuary 13, 2013 Miss America 2013 Mallory Hytes Hagan left her native Alabama for New York at age 18 LAS VEGAS (AP) — A woman from Brooklyn, N.Y., is the new Miss America, winning the title after tap dancing to a James Brown tune, deftly dealing with a question about guns, and raising the issue of child sexual abuse in her contestant platform. In addition to dancing to "Get Up Off of That Thing," 23-year-old Mallory Hagan strutted down the runway during the Las Vegas pageant Saturday night in an asymmetrical...

Leave it to a New Yorker to shake things up at the Miss America Pageant. Instead of sticking to something safe, Miss New York Claire Buffie will be championing gay rights as part of her campaign to become the next Miss America. Never in the 90-year history of the pageant has a contestant gone to bat for gays. And the 24-year-old brunette knows she's taking a risk with her "Straight for Equality: Let's Talk" platform. But this, she says, is the civil rights struggle of her generation. "Miss America is looking for a woman who is intelligent, has a vision...