ASHLEIGH BANFIELD (HOST): This year's Miss America competition is going to be one for the record books. Erin O'Flaherty was crowned Miss Missouri early this month, and come September, she is going to be the first openly gay Miss America contestant in that pageant's 95 year history. And I want to show you this picture from this past weekend, it was the gay pride event in St. Louis, Missouri. There she is surrounded by rainbows and lots of drag queens, too, and a lot of smiles. Erin, kind enough now to don the crowd and join me live to talk about the experience. Congratulations, first of all, on winning your state crown, making it to the big contest.

ERIN O'FLAHERTY: Thank you.

BANFIELD: And making such a headline too, because this is very significant for a lot of people. I just want to know what it's like for you personally to be doing this and to be at the vanguard of this movement?

O’FLAHERTY: It's overwhelming the amount of love and support that I've received not only from the LGBT community but from so many others as well. And really I still just feel like just Erin, and so not much has changed other than now I get to be someone that's in a public position of influence for my community. And I'm really excited about that.

[...]

BANFIELD: I'm super curious about how you're going to be on the stage when you undergo those questions and you talk about the things that you stand for. And I know on Good Morning America you said what you just said, and that is that you're underrepresented in public positions of influence, the LGBT community. So you also are a firm backer and a supporter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and they do mesh, they really do mesh, especially with the Trevor Project, et cetera. Is this going to be something that you're going to bring to light on the national stage and be able to speak about not only in support of LGBTQ people but also those who may be thinking of taking their lives through whatever reason whether it's depression or any other reason?

O’FLAHERTY: Yes, absolutely. Suicide prevention is my personal platform, so I really hope to be a champion throughout my year. I'd like to be a trailblazer on the front of suicide prevention. I lost somebody to suicide when I was 13, and it changed my life. And so I hope that by sharing my story, I can inspire others to speak out on their experiences because suicide is a subject that is often taboo. People don't speak about it because they feel shameful or guilty because of the stigma attached with it. So I'm really excited about my partnerships with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and The Trevor Project. But of course that's something I'm looking forward to greatly, to be able to speak about it on a national level on the Miss America stage and with you here as well.

Previously:

With Her Stanford Rape Case Reporting, CNN's Ashleigh Banfield Set The Standard For Media Coverage

CNN Highlights The “Extraordinary” And “Extreme” Breadth Of Anti-LGBT Mississippi Law

CNN Correspondent Highlights Backlash Against Mississippi's Extreme New Anti-LGBT Law