Lawsuit: Gay Pageant Infringes On Pitt. Pageant

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The creator of the Miss Pittsburgh beauty pageant claims in a lawsuit that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender events run by another business infringe on her trademark, and injure her reputation.

Michele Alexander says that the 2012 Miss Pittsburgh Pride and Miss Pittsburgh Trash contests unfairly competed with the traditional pageant.

Alexander says she won a 2005 lawsuit that clearly gave her ownership of the Miss Pittsburgh trademark, and alleges that There Ultra Lounge, which ran the other contests, had to know that. There Ultra Lounge did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Alexander began the Miss Pittsburgh pageant in 1998.

The lawsuit also names the Delta Foundation, which represents the area LGBT community. But Delta president Gary Van Horn Jr. says they don't run the alternative pageants.

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