Miss Gay America

Miss Gay America Pageant

Miss Gay America logo 2016
Formation	1972
Type	Beauty pageant
Headquarters	Frederick, Maryland
Owner	Mad Angel Entertainment, Michael Dutzer, Rob Mansman
Current Titleholder	Dessie Love Blake
Website	www.missgayamerica.com

Miss Gay America is a national pageant for female impersonators. Established in 1972, the pageant is based on the Miss America contest and follows a similar format.

Each year, contestants compete at various city, state, and direct regional preliminaries for the opportunity to advance to the official Miss Gay America pageant. Titleholders are often seen as the best in the industry and are frequently hired to entertain in a variety of venues, such as Las Vegas shows, cruise ships, and LGBT events.

The Miss Gay America pageant system is the longest running pageant system for female impersonators. It is one of the four major pageant systems for the art form, in addition to Continental Pageantry, Gay USofA Pageantry, and Entertainer of the Year. Miss Gay America is unique in that it is the only national pageant that prohibits contestants from using female hormones or having undergone any feminizing plastic surgery, such as breast implants or liquid-silicone injections below the neck.

Lady Gaga, on the 10th of September 2017, was crowned as the first Honorary Miss Gay America.

The current Miss Gay America titleholder is Dessie Love Blake, the 52nd titleholder, crowned on January 19, 2024 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

History

Norma Kristie, the first winner of Miss Gay America.

In 1971, Jerry Peek opened the Watch Your Hat & Coat Saloon in Nashville, Tennessee, the city's first gay dance and show bar. Having an understanding of the female illusionist state pageants occurring in various show bars in other states, Peek decided to establish a national level pageant to further recognize the best entertainers. On June 25, 1972, the first pageant was held at Peek's Nashville saloon. Norman Jones, performing as Norma Kristie, competed representing Arkansas and was crowned the winner of the 1973 pageant and emeritus titleholder of the Miss Gay America Pageant system. In 1975, Jones assumed ownership of the pageant and later formed Norma Kristie, Inc., operating and directing the Miss Gay America pageant and the Mr. Gay All-America Contest systems. In 2005, Norman Jones retired from the pageant's regular operations and sold the Miss Gay America pageantry system to Larry Tyger and Terry Eason of L&T Entertainment. On February 4, 2016 Michael Dutzer and Rob Mansman of Mad Angel Entertainment purchased the Miss Gay America pageant From L & T Entertainment.

At the 2016 pageant in Memphis, Mad Angel Entertainment announced they will be retiring the solo talent category. Starting in 2017 Presentation will be judged for the top 10 contestants in its place. Also starting in 2017 contestants are able to change their talent numbers on the final night of the competition.

Mad Angel Entertainment announced in January 2017 that they will be bringing back Mr. Gay All-American as Mr. Gay America. The pageant was held on July 2, 2017 in Dallas, TX with the winner being Kyle Ean. The contest winners included Judas Elliot, and Simba Hall in 2018 and 2019. In 2021 following the Impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic, Prideland Productions, an entity formed by Simba Hall succeeded to maintain control and operations of the Mr division of the system, with a contest scheduled to be held in August 2021 in Las Vegas, NV.

The 2022 Miss Gay America pageant ushers the 50th symbol of excellence in to the prestigious system and is scheduled to be held in early 2022 following return to safety guidelines surrounding the coronavirus pandemic affecting persons around the world.

The winner for the 2022 Miss Gay America pageant was Dextaci.

Qualification

Contestants for the national Miss Gay America pageant qualify through franchised state and direct regional preliminaries. The winner and first alternate of the preliminary contests advance to the national pageant. Many states require contestants to first compete in franchised city preliminaries, where the winner and first alternate advance to the state pageant.

Competition

Historically, pageant competition consisted of interview, evening gown and talent categories. Later a Contemporary Fashion category for sportswear was added. After about a decade it was changed to Creative Fashion, a category that was never fully understood by judges or contestants and was later changed to Creative Costume. It was eventually replaced with Solo Talent. While some of the contestants perform live vocal, dance or comedy skits, the vast majority showcase their talent of lip syncing to prerecorded music. Current categories are Personal Interview, Solo Talent, Evening Gown, On-Stage Interview, and Talent.

Currently, the national pageant consists of 3 nights of preliminary competition, where all contestants compete in male interview, solo talent, evening gown, and production talent. Awards for each night of these categories are presented on the 4th night of the pageant week during the official Miss Gay America Revue Show, where former titleholders return to entertain. The final competition night is held on the fifth night, typically at a larger and more formal venue, and the top 10 finalists are announced. These finalists then compete again in evening gown, stage interview, and production talent. At the end of the final pageant, the top four runners-up are announced and the winner is crowned.

List of past winners

Miss Gay America winners
Year	Titleholder	Given name	Crowning venue	First Alternate	Second Alternate	Notes
1973	Norma Kristie	Norman Jones	Watch Your Hat & Coat Saloon, Nashville, Tennessee	Charlie Brown	Genie Dee	As the first Miss Gay America titleholder, Norma Kristie holds the title of Miss Gay America Emeritus. In 1975, she assumed ownership of the pageant and ran it until his retirement in 2005.
1974	Lady Baronessa	Carmel Santiago	The Glass Menagerie Nightclub, Nashville, Tennessee	Roski Fenandez	Billie Eggs	Lady Baronessa's full name was "The Lady Baroness Maria Andrea Del Santiago". Lady Baronessa assisted in the operations of Norma Kristie, Inc. until her passing in 1992.
1975	Shawn Luis	Shawn Ocampo	Atlanta Americana Hotel Ballroom, Atlanta, Georgia	Roski Fernandez
1976-A	Shan Covington	Shan Covington	The Depository Nightclub, Houston, Texas	Michael Andrews	Dani Daletto, Miss Gay Michigan America	Title revoked for unbecoming conduct.
1976-B	Dani Daletto	Jose Mondelano	Vapors Nightclub, Hot Springs, Arkansas			Dani Daletto was crowned in a special ceremony at the 1976 Miss Gay South Pageant held at Vapors Nightclub in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
1977	Michael Andrews	Michael Androlewicz	The Old Plantation Nightclub, Houston, Texas	Naomi Sims, Miss Gay Texas America	Shannon Forrester	Michael Andrews also held the 1986 emeritus title of Miss Gay USofA. Andrews has also appeared in a number of films.
1978	Jimi Dee	Jimmy Dillard	Machinist's Hall, St. Louis, Missouri	Hot Chocolate, Miss Gay Texas America	Lady Shawn	Jimi Dee was best known for her illusion of Diana Ross.
1979	Rachel Wells	John Greenwell	Fox Theater, Atlanta, Georgia	Hot Chocolate	Lady Shawn
1980	Hot Chocolate	Larry Edwards	Atlanta Convention Center, Atlanta, Georgia	Lady Shawn, Miss Gay Texas America	Dana Manchester	Hot Chocolate is known for her celebrity female impersonations of Tina Turner. She also appeared in the films What's Love Got to Do With It and Miss Congeniality 2.
1981	Lady Shawn	Shawn Marshall	Masonic Temple, Detroit, Michigan	Genevieve Ryder, Miss Gay Missouri America	Jennifer Foxx
1982	Jennifer Foxx	Bobby Bruno	Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas	Francesca Wakeland	Tasha Kohl
1983	Francesca Wakeland	Jon Meadows	Ovens Auditorium, Charlotte, North Carolina	Naomi Sims, Miss Gay South Regional America	Tasha Kohl, Miss Gay Texas
1984	Tasha Kohl	Jerry Faulkner	Oklahoma City Convention Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	Naomi Sims, first alternate to Miss Gay Tri-States Regional America	Stella Starr, Miss Gay North Carolina America	Tasha Kohl is notable for her creative and eccentric costuming and performance choices. She has also held the title of Miss National Entertainer of the Year, 1991.
1985	Naomi Sims	Newman S. Braud	Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas	Fritz Capone, Miss Gay Kansas America	Melinda Ryder, Miss Gay Missouri America	Naomi Sims was known as the "eyes of Texas" and revered for her stellar dancing skills. Naomi also held the 1990 emeritus title to Miss National Entertainer of the Year, and 1985 National Female Impersonator of the Year.
1986	Lauren Colby	Robb Robinson	Indianapolis Convention Center, Indianapolis, Indiana	Diana Black, Miss Gay Great Lakes America	Toni Lenoir, Miss Gay North Carolina	Lauren Colby has the unique distinction of being the youngest Miss Gay America ever crowned under the age of 21.
1987	Blaze Starr	David Brazil	Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas	Cherry Lane, Second Alternate to Miss Gay Arkansas	Kelly Ray
1988	Cherry Lane	Michael Smothers	Fox Theater, Atlanta, Georgia	Rachel Masters	Valerie Lohr, Miss Gay Texas America
1989	Vicki Vincent	Roger Piatt	Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas	Brandi Alexander, Miss Gay North Regional America	Sweet Savage, Miss Gay Texas America
1990	Brandi Alexander	Randy Fenoli	Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas	Valerie Lohr, Miss Gay Midwest America	Tiffany Bonet	Randy Fenoli used his prize money to enroll in the Fashion Institute of Technology. He is currently the television host of Say Yes to the Dress.
1991	Valerie Lohr	Gary Lytle	Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas	Coco, Miss Gay South Regional America	Tiffany Bonet
1992	Tiffany Bonet	Acey Hendricks	Majestic Theater, Dallas, Texas	Leslie Rage	Blair Williams, Miss Gay North Carolina America
1993	Leslie Rage	Leslie DeLaCruz	Majestic Theater, Dallas, Texas	Coco	Dieta Pepsi, Miss Gay Heart of America	Leslie Rage declined an opportunity to dance with Siegfried & Roy in Las Vegas in order to serve as Miss Gay America.
1994	Jacqulyn DeVaroe	Darius Cordell Murphy	Majestic Theater, Dallas, Texas	Ramona LeGer'	Coppa LeMay	Jacqueline DeVaroe also held the title of Miss Gay USofA 1997.
1995-A	Ramona LeGer'	Louis Marcello	Majestic Theater, Dallas, Texas	Patti Le Plae Safe, First Alternate to Miss Gulf States America	Nicole Dubois, Miss Gay Southern Elegance America	Ramona LeGer' died five months into her reign due to spinal meningitis.
1995-B	Patti Le Plae Safe	Rodd Grey	Robinson Center Music Auditorium, Little Rock, Arkansas			Patti Le Plae Safe was crowned Miss Gay America 1995 in a special ceremony prior to the 1996 pageant in Little Rock, Arkansas. Patti holds the record for the shortest reign of all time at 5.5 hours.
1996	Kerri Nichols	Jeff Capell	Robinson Center Music Auditorium, Little Rock, Arkansas	Lauren Taylor, Miss Gay Texas America	Linda Carrero
1997	Lauren Taylor	Darrell Cantu	Ovens Auditorium, Charlotte, North Carolina	Laken Edwards	Lana Eastman	Lauren Taylor also held the title of Miss Gay USofA 1998.
1998	Maya Montana		Ovens Auditorium, Charlotte, North Carolina	Linda Carrero, Miss Gay Mid-America	Lana Eastman
1999	Linda Carrero	Omar Reyes	Athena Theater, Little Rock, Arkansas	Kirby Colby, Miss Gay West Virginia America	Catia Lee Love
2000	Catia Lee Love	Aron Harvey	Lincoln Theater, Washington D.C.	Charity Case, Miss Gay Southern Elegance America	Kirby Kolby	Catia is also former Miss Gay Oklahoma America 1998, and Miss Gay USofA Classic 2011.
2001	Charity Case	Marc Coleman	Athena Theater, Little Rock, Arkansas	Sabrina White	Dominique Sanchez	Charity Case competed 11 times at Miss Gay America between 1984 and 2001 before winning the Miss Gay America 2001 title. Charity was the first plus size individual to win the title.
2002	Sabrina White	Russell Marcum	Dallas Convention Center-Dallas, Texas	Kitty Bob Aimes, Miss Gay Oklahoma America	Angela Dodd
2003	Dominique Sanchez	Chris Williams	Athena Theater-Little Rock, Arkansas	Jayda Alexander, Miss Gay Louisiana America	Angela Dodd	Dominique has also held the titles of Miss Gay Arkansas America 1998 and Miss Gay USofA 2010.
2004	Rachael Erikks		Athena Theater, Little Rock, Arkansas	Alana Steele, Miss Gay Indiana America	Truly Fabu
2005	Raquel Chevallier	Scott Peters	Athena Theater, Little Rock, Arkansas	Alina Meletti, Miss Gay Florida America	Alyssa Edwards
2006	Nicole DuBois	Tommy Davis	Cannon Center, Memphis, Tennessee	Coti Collins, Miss Gay East Coast America	Victoria Parker
2007	Luscious		Cannon Center, Memphis, Tennessee	Coti Collins, Miss Gay North Carolina	Chantel Reshae	Luscious has also held the title of Miss Gay USofA 2011.
2008	Mikayla Kay	Josh Bolin	Holiday Inn Select Airport Grand Ballroom, Memphis, Tennessee	Layla Larue, Miss Gay Southern Elegance America	Victoria DePaula, Miss Gay Midwest America
2009	Victoria DePaula	Carl Glorioso	Millennium Hotel Grand Ballroom, St. Louis, Missouri	Chantel Reshae, Miss Gay East Coast America	Coti Collins, Miss Gay Mideast America
2010-A	Alyssa Edwards	Justin Johnson	Millennium Hotel Ballroom, St. Louis, Missouri	Coco Montrese, Miss Gay Heart of America	Jessica Jade, Miss Gay D.C. America	Title revoked due to scheduling conflicts.
2010-B	Coco Montrese	Martin Cooper	The Grey Fox Nightclub, St. Louis, Missouri
2011	Coti Collins	David Lowman	Lifestyles Pavilion Auditorium, Columbus, Ohio	Jessica Jade, Miss Gay Mid-East America 2010	Chantel Reshae, Miss Gay Gulf States America 2010	Coti Collins is the second longest competing Miss Gay America winner.
2012	Kirby Kolby		Capitol Theatre at the Riffe Center, Columbus, Ohio	Jessica Jade, Miss Gay Atlantic States America 2011	Jenna Skyy, Miss Gay Texas America 2011
2013	Sally Sparkles	Michael Sharp	Sheraton Hotel Ballroom, Columbus, Ohio	Blair Williams, First Alternate to Miss Gay Mid-America 2012	Jessica Jade, Miss Gay Southern Elegance America2012	Sally Sparkles was the first contestant to win the title Miss Gay America and Miss Congeniality the same year.
2014	Jessica Jade	Billy Wilson	Millennium Hotel Ball Room, St. Louis, Missouri	Blair Williams, Miss Gay D.C. America 2013	Krista Collins, Miss Gay Missouri America 2013
2015	Blair Williams	Todd Mauldin	Millennium Maxwell House Hotel Ball Room, Nashville, Tennessee	Truly Fabu, Miss Gay Eastern States America, 1st Alternate	Kelly Ray, Miss Gay North Carolina America
2016	Asia O'Hara	Antwan Lee	Holiday Inn Select Airport Ball Room Memphis, Tennessee	Kelli Ray Shelton, Miss Gay Southeast America	Dextaci, Miss Gay Southern States America	Asia was the first to be crowned Miss Gay America on her first try since Lauren Colby. Asia is also a former Miss Gay USofA (2007) and All-American Goddess (2012).
2017	Suzy Wong	Arnold Myint	Holiday Inn Select Airport Ball Room Memphis, Tennessee	Kelly Ray Shelton, Miss Gay Heart of America 2016	Sofia Anderson, Miss Gay Texas America 2016
2018	Deva Station	Shane Carpenter	Hyatt Regency Empire Ballroom New Orleans, Louisiana	Brooke Lynn Hytes, 1st Alternate Miss Gay Heart of America 2017	Kelly Ray Shelton, Miss Gay New York America 2017
2019	Andora Te’Tee	Michael Collins	Ferrara Theatre St. Louis, Missouri	Dessie Love Blake, 1st Alternate, 1st alt to Miss Gay New York America 2018	Sofia Anderson, Miss Gay Nevada America 2018
2020	Pattaya Hart	Plu Sayampol	Gateway Classic Cars Venue O'Fallon, Illinois	Dextaci, 1st Alternate, Miss Gay Mid-Atlantic America 2019	Ivy Dripp, Miss Gay Louisiana America 2019	Pattaya won on her first attempt at MGA. The third person overall to achieve this.
2022	Dextaci	Dex Poindexter	Robinson Center Auditorium Little Rock, AR	Shelita Hoyle Bonet, 1st Alternate, Miss Gay Southern America 2021	Tatiana Voche,2nd alternate, Miss Gay Western States America 2021	Dextaci was the first reigning Miss Gay America to meet both the standing President(Biden) and Vice-President(Harris) at the signing of the Respect for Marriage Act held December 13, 2022.
2023	Tatiyanna Voche’		Robinson Center Auditorium Little Rock, AR	Dessie Love Blake, Miss Gay Southwest America 2022	Barbra Seville, Miss Gay Western States America 2022	Tatiyanna won representing as Miss Gay DC America 2022. The last person to win Miss Gay America from that prelim was Kirby Kolby, Miss Gay America 2012
2024	Dessie Love Blake	Ron Kerr	Robinson Center Auditorium Little Rock, AR	Aria B. Cassadine, Miss Gay Tennessee America 2023	Emory Starr, Miss Gay Fancy America 2023

Notable events

Shan Covington's title revocation

In 1976, Shan Covington's title was revoked 7 months into her reign for conduct unbecoming of a Miss Gay America titleholder. The title was offered to the 1976 First Alternate, Michael Andrews, who declined because she wanted to win the title. The title was then passed to the 1976 Second Alternate, Dani Daletto. This incident sparked the development of the current mandatory first alternate succession rules.

Showtime's Dream Boy's Revue

In 1985, titleholder Naomi Sims was also the crowned winner of the 1985 National Female Impersonator of the Year contest. That contest was organized by Norma Kristie, Inc., owner of the Miss Gay America pageant, but was created, produced and televised by the Showtime network in a television special called Dream Boy's Revue. The audience believed the pageant was real, but according to "finalist" Rachel Wells, the pageant was staged and each of the contestants were paid substantially to "compete." Additionally, the televised special faced issues with copyright infringement associated with certain lip syncing performances, which required much of the talent portion of the show to be dubbed when it was aired.

Death of titleholder Ramona LeGer'

In 1995, titleholder Ramona LeGer' died 5 months into her reign due to complications from AIDS. First Alternate Patti Le Plae Safe requested not to be crowned or wear the crown during the pageant year, instead serving as the official Miss Gay America Representative to honor Ramona LeGer's memory. Patti Le Plae Safe was crowned Miss Gay America 1995 in a special ceremony prior to the 1996 pageant in Little Rock, Arkansas. Patti donated large portions of her performance fees to AIDS charities while representing Miss Gay America 1995.

Alyssa Edwards' title revocation

In 2010, winner Alyssa Edwards had her title revoked due to scheduling conflicts with previous engagements and her Miss Gay America duties. The title was passed to the 2010 first alternate, Coco Montrese, who was crowned in a special ceremony at The Grey Fox Nightclub in St. Louis, MO. Alyssa Edwards and Coco Montrese appeared as contestants in season five of RuPaul's Drag Race, where the 2010 Miss Gay America pageant issues and animosity between Alyssa and Coco played a central theme throughout the season. L&T Productions later released a statement about the dramatized events, explaining their reasons for revoking Alyssa's title and their lack of knowledge about how this issue would be portrayed in the television series. They had been approached by the producers to provide copyright clearance for both Alyssa's and Coco's official Miss Gay America photos.

Mr. Gay All-American

The Mr. Gay All-American Contest was founded by Norma Kristie, Inc. in 1983 by the operators of Miss Gay America, Norman Jones and Carmel Santiago (Lady Baronessa, Miss Gay America 1974). The MGAA Contest was started to provide a venue for gay men to showcase their intellect, community service, and talent. It launched careers in professional entertainment for many young gay men. MGAA was the first contest of its kind, and its winner was considered to be the co-titleholder to Miss Gay America.

In 1995, Jones sold the Mr. Gay All-American Contest to Gib Hauersperger, who had been the contest director since the death of Carmel Santiago. Hauersperger operated the pageant until his retirement in 1999. Paul Lopez (Mr. Gay All-American 2000) operated the contest from 1999 to 2003, when Richard Greer (Mr. Gay All-American 1999) assumed the directorial role. John Beebe (Mr. Gay All-American 1996) succeeded Greer as director. In 2009, Beebe and Hauersperger announced that the Mr. Gay All-American Contest system would cease operations indefinitely.

Mr. Gay All-American Titleholders
Year	Titleholder
1983, 1984	Ron East
1985	Keith Mitchell
1986	Ered Matthew
1987	Medwin Johnson
1988	Brad Bemis
1989	Patrick Boyd
1990	Milo Masters
1991	TJ McKay
1992	John Michael Gordon
1993	EJ White
1994	David Pace
1995	John Reny
1996	John Martin Beebe
1997	Jonathan George
1998	Antonio Edwards
1999	Richard Greer
2000	Kristian Martinez
2001	Paul Lopez
2002	Ryan Davis
2003	Enrique Perez
2004	Dave Morgan
2005	Lucas Lander
2006	John Lucas
2007	Taz Bailey
2008	Sebastian Armonte
2009	Rasean Montrese

Mr. Gay America

In January 2017, Mad Angel Entertainment announced the return of Mr. Gay All-American as Mr. Gay America.

Mr. Gay America Titleholders
Year	Titleholder
2017	Kyle Ean
2018	Judas Elliot
2019	Simba R. Hall
2021	Christopher Iman
2022	KC Sunshine
2023	Geo Johnson

In film

The 2008 documentary film Pageant presents a behind-the-scenes look at the 34th Miss Gay America pageant and some of the competitors, many of whom have since won the title of Miss Gay America.

In 1982, Elizabeth Gracen, Miss America 1982, made her directorial debut with a documentary feature called The Damn Deal. The film is an intimate portrait of three female impersonators participating in the events surrounding the Miss Gay Little Rock Arkansas America pageant.

Discography

All tracks are written by Mike Vandermause

Miss Gay America Theme Original Score

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Miss Gay America Theme Original Score" (Performed by Sarah Fairhurst and Mike Vandermause)	Mike Vandermause	...
Total length:			50 seconds

See also

• Miss Gay Philippines
• Miss International Queen
• Miss Tiffany's Universe

External links

• Official website