Miss England Just Crowned Its First Out Gay Winner, Grace Richardsonhttps://www.them.us/story/miss-england-pageant-gay-winner-grace-richardson 🔗Samantha Riedel (24 Nov 2025)
The first openly gay Miss England pageant winner says she is "in shock" following her win last week, five years after coming out and facing homophobic bullying at school.
Grace Richardson, 20, took home the title at the Miss England 2025 competition on November 21, making her the first out gay woman to win the competition, per Birmingham Live. She will represent England at the 2026 Miss World competition next year.
Richardson, a musical theater student at the Leicester College of Performing Arts and a part-time model, came out five years ago on TikTok, she told the Leicester Times. She faced frequent bullying from her classmates, she said, especially from boys in her class, who targeted her for her sexuality and for being "too skinny."
"I feel so powerful and proud of myself. My coming out story wasn't the easiest," Richardson reportedly said after her win. "My very close friends and family were all very supportive. But for some reason those at school, my peers, just weren't in the same way that my family were. It was a struggle to accept myself while a lot of people weren't accepting me."
"It is important for young people in the LGBTQ community to see people representing them in all types of walks of life," she added. "I haven't seen anyone in pageantry talk about sexuality in the way that I have so it is important to me for them to feel seen." Richardson went on.
