This August the Miss Texas USofA pageant is celebrating it’s – wait for it – 35th Anniversary! Love of pageants for many gay men are their OGT – ‘obviously gay trait’ thank you “Broken Hearts Club” – and the Miss Texas USofA pageant never disappoints.
Thirty contestants competed this year, chosen from winners of regional contests held throughout Texas. State pageant promoter Craig Henderson speaking to OutSmart Magazine was thrilled at the turnout,
“I think that’s pretty fantastic, coming off of COVID. We had to cancel all the state and national pageants last year. I didn’t really know if we would have pageants ever again.”
Any Texan over 21 years of age that was assigned Male at birth is eligible to enter the pageant. Henderson, acknowledging how progressive the pageant is and how far we have come notes that, “40 percent of the contestants are Transgender women.”
The pageant consists of three separate portions – interview, evening gown, and talent. The talent portion carries the most weight in the scoring from the judges. The most popular type of talent performance Henderson says,
“Dance routines to remixes are the most popular. They are very professional. But really any kind of talent—[except acts] containing racial slurs and vulgar, obscene, or insulting language. No fire of any kind. No glitter, water, or liquids of any kind. Most of the preliminary competitions are held at gay bars, and they have very strict safety measures.
He continued, remarking about not-so-run-of-the-mill-talent-performances,
“I guess the oddest talent I’ve seen over the years was a contestant inside a glass box who sang a song while painting the inside of the box white. By the end of the song, you couldn’t see the contestant anymore. Some others do movie scenes, and a recent one did a Mary Poppins takeoff.”
Henderson again speaking about how far the Pageant has come in 35 years noted,
Back then, some gay bars wouldn’t let drag queens in. Now every gay bar has drag shows. As for the pageant, the talent portion has certainly progressed. The dance performances are choreographed, and they spend months rehearsing them. They’re like Las Vegas reviews, and it’s not uncommon now to see contestants in the gown competition with three-, four-, five-thousand-dollar gowns.”
The Miss Texas USofA pageant was held from August 24th through the 27th in Houston.
What would your talent be if you entered a pageant? Talentless people like me can pull a Gracie Lou Freebush from “Miss Congeniality” lol. Sound off in the comments below with your Miss Gay Texas USofA talent performance. For more information on the pageant visit texasusofapageants.com
Sources – OutSmart Magazine
I agree, pageant, drag show, exact same thing and just as boring as fuck.
Uh…. it’s called a, “drag show”. Next.