When Miss America 2000 glides down the runway in Atlantic City next year, her mascara running and her rhinestone tiara glittering in the klieg lights, it's possible that she'll still be recovering from an abortion. Or getting over a nasty divorce. That's because the Miss America Pageant is relaxing its stringent 60-year-old rules that required a contestant to have never been married or pregnant. Starting next year, she'll only be asked to sign a document affirming that she's not currently married or pregnant, and is not a parent of either a natural or adopted child. In the end, it's not a case of the pageant waking up facing the new realities of womanhood; court documents make it clear that the rules were changed to avoid getting tangled in New Jersey's discrimination laws.
Near Miss
When Miss America 2000 glides down the runway in Atlantic City next year, her mascara running and her rhinestone tiara glittering in the klieg lights, it's possible that she'll still be recovering from an abortion. Or getting over a nasty divorce. That's because the Miss America Pageant is relaxing its stringent 60-year-old rules that required a contestant to have never been married or pregnant. Starting next year, she'll only be asked to sign a document affirming that she's not currently married or pregnant, and is not a parent of either a natural or adopted child. In the end, it's not a case of the pageant waking up facing the new realities of womanhood; court documents make it clear that the rules were changed to avoid getting tangled in New Jersey's discrimination laws.
