Miss USA Competition to Include First Openly Bisexual Contestant

"The reason I waited so long to come out ... was that I didn’t think who I choose to love should define who I am," Slawson wrote

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A woman who was recently crowned Miss Utah USA after competing in the pageant five times will be the first openly bisexual contestant to compete for the Miss USA title in the competition's nearly 70-year history, NBC News reports.

Rachel Slawson, 25, told NBC News that she was "shocked" when she won the Miss Utah USA competition Saturday because she "had been told no for so long."

The winner, who has been open on social media about her struggles with mental health and "finally coming to terms" with who she is as "a queer woman", said though the win was "hard to believe," she is ready to change limiting perceptions of beauty with her platform.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com.

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