Trans Contestant is Miss Congeniality at Calif. Beauty Pageant

Twenty-one-year-old Addie Vincent was named Miss Congeniality this week at the Miss Delta Queen competition at Chapman University in Orange County, the bastion of conservatism between San Diego and Los Angeles.

Vincent was the first transgender contestant to compete in the pageant's history, which is organized by Chapman's Greek system. A fraternity nominated Vincent as a nod of support to transgender students. At the competition, Vincent was greeted with supportive hoots and hollers, eventually nabbing the title of Miss Congeniality after reading an original poem describing hardships endured by transgender people.

"Tonight was so awesome," Vincent said after the pageant, according to the OC Register. "The fact that I was just able to compete was so amazing on its own."

Vincent, a native of the Detroit area, is trying to start a gender-neutral "frarority" at Chapman.