Jenelle Hutcherson (born November 15, 1985) is an American hair artist, activist, public figure, designer, youth mentor and visionary.
She is best known for being the first openly lesbian contestant and the first contestant to wear a tuxedo in the Miss Long Beach 2011 pageant in Long Beach, CA, and the Miss California USA pageant in Palm Desert, CA 2012.
Her participation in the pageants shattered stereotypes in many angles; feminist groups, women who have never fit in society's ideal of what beauty is, butch women embracing themselves (tuxedo and swimsuit/ she tailored and sewn her own for both pageants), the standard that only feminine women enter pageants, and that women from minority descent don't win pageants.
Hutcherson became a name in the LGBT community, the pageant community, and made headline news in media such as NBC, CBS, KCAL9, Huffington Post, After Ellen, The Advocate, NOH8 Campaign, Courage Campaign, GLAAD, SDGLN (San Diego Gay and Lesbian News), Curve Magazine, GreaterLongBeach.com, Press-Telegram, and Los Angeles Times.
The campaign of "Vote for Jenelle" went international after AfterEllen.com published an article about Hutcherson in September 2011.