Former Miss North Carolina USA Brittany Boltinhouse is speaking out after being stripped of her crown weeks before the Miss USA pageant, saying she believes her conservative Christian values played a role in the decision.
The Miss USA Organization announced Aug. 5 that Boltinhouse had been stripped of her title. Chairman Thom Brodeur did not specify the conduct behind the decision but said the organization "does not tolerate racism, homophobia, transphobia nor language that strips any person of their dignity," adding that the conduct occurred "over an extended period of time."
The decision ended Boltinhouse's reign just weeks after she won the state title and less than three weeks before she was scheduled to represent North Carolina at the 75th annual Miss USA pageant on Aug. 27.
In an interview Friday with the Carolina Journal, Boltinhouse called losing the title a "blessing in disguise."
MISS NORTH CAROLINA USA LOSES CROWN AFTER ORGANIZER CONDEMNS 'RACISM, HOMOPHOBIA, TRANSPHOBIA'
"I'm very much at peace and I'm actually glad it happened to me and not some other young lady that, you know, maybe just probably wouldn't make it through what I'm going through right now," Boltinhouse said. "The scrutiny, my family behind it as well. But I will say that I'm very much at peace and I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I know who I am and I know what I can become."
Boltinhouse said a confidentiality agreement prevents her from discussing the circumstances that led to her losing the title, but she said she believes her political and religious views played a role.
"I believe and think I was stripped from my title because of my political stance and my belief system as a conservative Christian woman," she said.
"I'm proud of my faith. I'm proud of my standards. I'm a proud conservative woman, but a Christian woman. I'm a God-fearing woman," Boltinhouse added.
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Asked whether she believed being conservative was disqualifying in the pageant system, Boltinhouse said people should be free to express their political beliefs.
"I believe that everyone has a right to say what they want to say and feel the way they want to feel," she said.
Boltinhouse said she did not know whether her support for President Donald Trump played a role in the decision.
"I don't know. I don't know. All I can say from the information that I have today and what I believe and I think is honestly I don't know," Boltinhouse said. "I wasn't really given anything."
Despite losing her crown, Boltinhouse said she forgives the organization and hopes other women will view her experience as encouragement to stand by their beliefs.
"Hopefully see me as an example," she said. "To always stand for what you believe, no matter what, no matter where, no matter what you do."
"I speak to the women that even are not conservative, that they have the right to speak the way that you feel, no matter what platform, no matter what belief system that you may have," she added.
Myla Hadley, the first runner-up in the state competition, will represent North Carolina on the national stage "with our full confidence and our support," Brodeur said in a previous statement.
Brodeur said the decision was made in consultation with Boltinhouse, her state directors and the Miss USA Organization. He also emphasized that the organization did not view accountability as justification for personally attacking Boltinhouse.
"There is a young woman at the center of this," Brodeur said. "She has been named, examined, and judged in public in a way that most of us would not survive, and she is still a human being with a family, a future, and a life ahead of her that is longer than this part of her journey."
"I have never believed that accountability requires cruelty, or that holding a line means enjoying the fall of the person who crossed it," he continued.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Miss USA Organization for additional comment.
Fox News Digital's Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
