For an aspiring activist, especially a champion for LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer) rights, a pageant might not seem the obvious place to exercise one’s passion for change. But Ashley Delgado, Ms. Lesbian Rhode Island of 2017, defies the obvious storyline.
Growing up in Central Falls, Rhode Island, Delgado says she never faced bullying after she came out as a lesbian her sophomore year, calling her hometown “very culturally competent,” and even at home, her experience wasn’t what many might expect: Ashley’s mother, at first, was worried, but came along and her father accepted the news right away.
“He says, ‘She likes bikes, cars and chicks, just like me!’” Delgado recalls. The former Ms. Lesbian Rhode Island doesn’t actually own a motorcycle, though. She drives a sporty Hyundai Veloster but longs for a Tesla.
With a supportive family and community behind her, Delgado headed to Lesley, falling in love with Cambridge and the university’s atmosphere of inclusion and activism.
“Lesley is where I realized I could change the world,” Delgado says. “I remember feeling inspired by the atmosphere, and for this reason, I spent many summers working and living on campus.
“My internships from Lesley and work through the Community Service Office with Summer Corps of Service really shaped my career path,” says Delgado, who is a therapeutic mentor working under the Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative in Massachusetts. In 2017, Delgado joined LGBTQ Action RI and used her platform to advocate for passing the Conversion Therapy Ban to minors in Rhode Island.
Delgado, who graduated in 2012 with a degree in human services and a biology minor, is pursuing a master’s degree in Holistic Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I. She credits our faculty — particularly Professor Emerita Janel Lucas — for convincing her that working for change could be a career, as well as a passion.
“I often think about how my professors at Lesley prepared me to be a confident and competent professional,” Delgado says. But she believed she could achieve even more good outside the workplace.
So, she decided to pursue the local pageant life.
More activism outlets needed
“I was so excited to be engaged with the community on campus,” Delgado says, but when she went home to Rhode Island for the summer, she realized she had no local GSA (gay-straight alliance) connection like she enjoyed at Lesley.
So, Delgado found an outlet for her activism by competing to become Ms. Lesbian Rhode Island through Rhode Island Pride’s Triple Crown Pageant. On her first try, she achieved second place. On her second try she was again runner-up, but she did win Miss Congeniality.
But the third time was a charm: after an interview, and following a formal wear component (there is no swimsuit competition, she jokes), as well as the talent portion, Delgado was awarded the pageant’s signature sash and tiara.
Though she takes the title in stride — her talent offerings included a comedy act about coming out to her parents, a “gay bedtime story” about a lesbian relationship, and a song parody to the tune of Kelis’s 2003 hit dance single “Milkshake” (“My charisma brings all the gays to the bar,” is the opening lyric.) — she is serious about her charge as Ms. Lesbian Rhode Island.
“It’s a responsibility of community service,” Delgado says. “During my reign this past year, I’ve made a point of being active.”
She spoke at the 2017 Women’s March in Rhode Island, taking much of her time to alert attendees to activist organizations and their websites, acknowledging the work of her supporters and urging people to consider her acronym for action “MARCH”: Make a Real Change Happen.
As Ms. Lesbian Rhode Island, Delgado met with high school and middle school Gender and Sexualities Alliances (GSAs) and other organizations to create positive change via “community building,” participating in peace walks and Pride events, and attending LGBTQ+ youth proms and fashion shows.
Her efforts have earned Delgado the New England Pride Television Person of the Year for 2018, and she served as grand marshal in the Ocean State’s ‘Louder and Prouder’ Pride Parade last year.
Though she enjoys the honors — “I think this was just my year,” she says — Delgado is clear that the fight for dignity and equity transcends days of pride and celebration.
“Remember, we have 364 other days in the year where we need to be involved,” she has told various audiences at demonstrations and events.
Still, she is encouraged by the growing ranks of LGBTQ+ allies, even if they’re not always up-to-date on gay queer nomenclature.
“The important thing to me is just that you’re trying,” Delgado says.
She is also heartened by the increasing number of GSAs and similar organizations in middle and high schools, as well as college campuses.
And, of course, there have been countless social events far exceeding her modest pageant-winner’s stipend that test the limits of her endurance.
“Gays like to party late,” she says with a laugh.
