Kathy Zhu, former Miss Michigan who was stripped of her title, says coming out as conservative is 'harder than coming out' as gay

A former Miss Michigan beauty queen, who was stripped of her title over what she said was discrimination based on her conservatism, doubled down on her claims at a Trump event on Friday, saying coming out as a conservative is "harder than coming out" as gay.

Kathy Zhu, 20, lost her crown last week after executives with Miss World America told her that “offensive, insensitive and inappropriate” posts she made on social media about blacks and Muslim women violated the organization’s rules and conditions, according to screenshots Zhu shared on Twitter.

Zhu, a Donald Trump supporter and vice chair of the University of Michigan’s College Republicans group, pushed back at the organization. She claimed the tweets were just “statistics and facts” and that she was discriminated against.

Speaking Friday at a Women for Trump event in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, about 25 miles north of Detroit, Zhu once again said she was ousted over her conservative views.

"Pageants are all about empowering women voices," she said before claiming that her voice was silenced because of her opinions.

"It's not right. Conservative voices are being censored," she added.

Zhu told the audience that when she told her friends that she was conservative, it was extremely difficult.

"It's harder, I think, than coming out as, honestly, gay," she said.

Among the tweets Zhu wrote that resulted in her being stripped of her title was one that said, “Did you know that the majority of black deaths are caused by other blacks? Fix problems within your own community first before blaming others.”

Another, posted on World Hijab Day, read, "There is a ‘try a hijab on’ booth at my college campus. So you’re telling me that it’s now just a fashion accessory and not a religious thing? Or are you just trying to get women used to being oppressed under Islam?”

Both posts have since been deleted.