Leanza Cornett, Miss America who was crusading AIDS activist, dies at 49
In 1992, Leanza Cornett was a part-time college student, a full-time singing mermaid at Walt Disney World in Orlando and an ambivalent contestant preparing for the Miss Florida pageant.
She was advised to find a cause, a signature issue to champion if she were crowned.
For the previous year, she had been volunteering with young AIDS patients. When she informed local pageant directors that she wanted public awareness of the disease as her issue, they winced and asked if she had a second choice.
She recalled telling them, “You know what, I don’t care. If this is not okay, this is not an organization I want to be a part of.”
Months later, Ms. Cornett was named Miss America 1993 — and turned her year-long reign into a crusade to bring attention to AIDS and promote safe sex. At a time when AIDS was considered a terminal illness and HIV-positive people faced discrimination, Ms. Cornett jolted the pageant’s prim reputation and made headlines for bringing her pro-condom message into schools. ...
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