Althouse: "I want to get the conversation away from my sexuality, and I hope that by the end of the year that will be the conversation we are having."

September 9, 2016

"I want to get the conversation away from my sexuality, and I hope that by the end of the year that will be the conversation we are having."

"I think other people tend to focus on it, but it is one small part of who I am and the work that I do. It is just as important for people to realize I am not one dimensional."

Said the lesbian Miss America contestant, Miss Missouri, Erin O'Flaherty.

I completely agree with the sentiment in that quote, and I want to confess that when I chose to blog it and copied it, I was under the delusion of having misread it as: I want to get the conversation to be about my sexuality, and I hope that by the end of the year that will be the conversation we are having.

I thought that idea — that idea that arose only in my own mind — was terrible.

35 comments:

Birkel said...: Is this one of those "people only see what they want to see" threads.
Didn't we have that yesterday?; 9/9/16, 9:35 AM
buwaya said...: Ok, to change the conversation,
By beauty contest standards she isnt very pretty and Im a bit surprised she won a statewide contest.; 9/9/16, 9:42 AM
YoungHegelian said...: Lesbian or not, that's the best Missouri can do? Did the "Show me" state morph into the "Meh..." state when I wasn't looking?

And then I look at her FB page, and she's prettier than that NYT photo makes her seem. Why did the NYT print such an unflattering shot of her? Are ya homophobic, NYT?

I guess she's a "lots of lipstick" lesbian.; 9/9/16, 9:42 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: I want to get the conversation away from the Miss America contest, entirely.; 9/9/16, 9:47 AM
Nonapod said...: I've always thought that it's weird that so many people seem to completely define themselves by one aspect. Everything they are is wrapped up in something I personally consider trivial.

It's like if someone really liked waffles. They like them so much that they decide to become a waffle activist, marching in waffle parades, and attending anti-French toast rallies. And they spend there days trolling breakfast forums and blogs, debating with pancake apologists.; 9/9/16, 9:53 AM
buwaya said...: Well, Im up for an anti-french toast rally. That stuff will bring down western civilization.; 9/9/16, 9:57 AM
Unknown said...: In related LGBT news, apparently the Student Senate at Iowa State university has decided to issue an ultimatum forbidding BYU from joining the Big !2 because, apparently, BYU's honor code policies that forbid both homosexual and heterosexual sexual activities is bad.

More of the "We hate Christians" that the LGBT groups are rapidly pushing.

More to the point: if BYU's policies on LGBT is relevant to whether they should be allowed to play sports, then why shouldn't the rest of us judge this lesbian based on her sexual proclivities; even if on the face of it whether she's a lesbian or not has nothing to do with whether she is a Miss America person? That's what the LGBT crowd wants. They strenuously maintain that your views on LGBT activities are crucially important and you shouldn't be allowed to get a business license if you don't agree with their agenda. In short, whether you can sell pizza depends on whether you comply with the LGBT agenda.

So why can't we claim that her lesbianism is a disqualifying thing? The LGBT crowd claims being Christian is disqualifying for a business license.

And at least around here, one of the criteria for pageants and so forth is moral character which I think your sexual activities still have merit.

--Vance; 9/9/16, 10:02 AM
Curious George said...: So Penthouse lesbians do exist? Huh.; 9/9/16, 10:02 AM
madAsHell said...: .....then stop talking about your sexual orientation!!; 9/9/16, 10:18 AM
damikesc said...: I like that sentiment a lot. Anybody who describes their sexuality first is telling me that there isn't anything else interesting about them.

In related LGBT news, apparently the Student Senate at Iowa State university has decided to issue an ultimatum forbidding BYU from joining the Big !2 because, apparently, BYU's honor code policies that forbid both homosexual and heterosexual sexual activities is bad.

If BYU is let in to the Big 12, they promise to totally hold their breath until they turn blue and to totally hate you, mom!; 9/9/16, 10:19 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/9/16, 10:21 AM
Mike Sylwester said...: Is she a butch or a femme?; 9/9/16, 10:21 AM
SweatBee said...: Huh. And here I am old enough to remember when this wouldn't have been part of the conversation because the various rules implied that Miss America contestants were expected to be practically virginal tobegin with. Or at least unmarried, never divorced, never pregnant, no nudie pics floating around, etc.

If you don't want whom you're frolicking with to be a thing, don't advertise it in your pageant bio.; 9/9/16, 10:24 AM
traditionalguy said...: Fe fi fo fum, I smell confirmation bias at work. Scott Adams said that once we learn to see Confirmation Bias in action, it will stun us how it always is going on among people who believe they are rational thinkers.

Give me some of that old time body language reading...or is that called Gaydar.; 9/9/16, 10:29 AM
traditionalguy said...: What about beautiful Bi-sexual women. At least men have half a chance there.; 9/9/16, 10:31 AM
William said...: She's still good looking. Sex appeal trumps sexual orientation. I long for the day when Miss America nominates fat women with bad complexions who truly long for world peace. A Miss Ameica contest that Madeline Albright cannot win is not a true evaluation of a woman's worth........Beautiful women are somewhat fluid in their sexual orientations. That's because they're not measured by that yardstick......If, later on in life, when she meets a billionaire industrialist, she decides to switch sides, I hope the LGBT community treats her with tolerance and respect.; 9/9/16, 10:48 AM
Bill said...: For some reason, this just popped into my noggin.; 9/9/16, 10:57 AM
Joe said...: She isn't very attractive (but neither are most of the contestants.) Is it possible that she got to where she is precisely for justice warrior reasons?

I know two women who competed at various state levels of Miss America. Both said that the contest is extremely political and who wins or not is largely predetermined.

As a side note, what is it with Miss America contestants generally looking much older than their age?; 9/9/16, 11:14 AM
Joe said...: BTW, Miss Alabama is Hayley Barber. Made me smile.; 9/9/16, 11:16 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Talk about living in the past. The Miss America contest is so trivial and archaic that it wouldn't matter if the contestants were 50 tranny dudes. I'm surprised Althouse found this of interest.; 9/9/16, 11:23 AM
boycat said...: She's about as lesbian as Ellen's ex Anne Heche turned out to be.; 9/9/16, 11:24 AM
William said...: The swimsuit portion of the competition is important because it facilitates the judges' reading of their body language.; 9/9/16, 11:26 AM
Etienne said...: My two cents - the woman is not even attractive. Wazz-up wit dat?

If I was a woman, I'd be a lesbian. You could buy a penis, I wouldn't want to marry one.; 9/9/16, 11:42 AM
rhhardin said...: Beauty pageants are for women. Men don't watch them.; 9/9/16, 11:56 AM
David Begley said...: ISU doesn't want BYU in the Big 12 because that means more losses in basketball and football.; 9/9/16, 11:58 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: I thought that idea — that idea that arose only in my own mind — was terrible.

Um, doesn't that make you a terrible person?; 9/9/16, 1:31 PM
walter said...: “The critique of the Miss America pageant is a separate narrative from who gets included,” she said. “If it is going to exist at all, it should be representative of who is female.”

Ruh roh...; 9/9/16, 1:31 PM
walter said...: But fwiw, she's quite pleasing in 3 dimensions; 9/9/16, 1:48 PM
n.n said...: Transgender/homosexuality is one data point in an individual's makeup that is a first-order criteria in class diversity constructs and politically opportunistic schemes. O'Flaherty seems capable of discerning the merit of sexual behavior out of context with ulterior motives. Miss America is about judging an individual by her popular, or more likely, minority appeal, not her partner, not her orientation, not the normalization of select classes in the transgender spectrum disorder.; 9/9/16, 2:03 PM
Henry said...: Interesting photo. She has abrasions on both wrists. I wonder if she fell while running or rollerblading.; 9/9/16, 2:10 PM
mikee said...: Interest in beauty pageants depends almost entirely upon the three dimensional aspects of the contestants. So she already has that "one-dimensional" thing beat, which is nice for her.; 9/9/16, 3:02 PM
Unknown said...: where's Laslo?; 9/9/16, 4:09 PM
Joe said...: where's Laslo?

Probably furiously beating himself off.; 9/9/16, 5:26 PM
Anonymous said...: Yeah, because there's nothing sexual about Miss America.; 9/9/16, 8:59 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: buwaya puti said...
Well, Im up for an anti-french toast rally. That stuff will bring down western civilization.
9/9/16, 9:57 AM

Oh, Croc. I used to like you but this is beyond the pale. Of course you realize that this means war. Coming from someone who eats things called lumpias, not to mention balut, just be glad we let you stay here at all. French toast deserves a place with all that's good.; 9/11/16, 1:49 AM