ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — When the television cameras zoom in, Miss America pageant viewers see a rhinestone-studded celebration of homegrown beauty and heterosexual hegemony.

Behind the glitter and the gowns, there’s a side unseen to Miss America — a huge following among gay men. Some are directly involved as local or state pageant directors, hairstylists or costume designers who help prepare the contestants for competition.

Others celebrate its glam from afar, holding dress-up parties to watch the telecast or camping it up as drag queens to mock the world-famous beauty contest.

“It’s an interesting dynamic, to have gay men so highly involved when it’s such a conservative organization in so many ways,” said actress Kate Shindle, a former Miss America.

“There are women who compete who might never have known a gay person, but in competing they are helped every step of the way by all these gay men. Certainly, Miss America has a heterosexual male audience but it’s not as prominent as the gay audience.”

The phenomenon is well-known to Miss America Organization officials but they are cautious in discussing it publicly.

“We’re very proud of everyone in the pageant family,” said pageant CEO George Bauer. “Everyone contributes. There’s no discrimination now, nor will there ever be.”

Straight men may watch to see which contestant fills out her swimsuit the best, but gay men are more concerned with its cut, color and fabric. That sense of style has attracted many to the pageant through the years.

Some are drawn by the glamour, others by the thrill of the makeover. That 19-year-old with the ’80s haircut and the outdated dress? With a little help, she could win it all.

“The glitz and glamour, it just naturally attracts gay men,” said Chet Welch, a longtime local pageant director in Pennsylvania. “The music part of it, too. It’s an out, a way of being involved in show business or entertainment but not really as yourself.”

Welch, 42, of Ford City, Pa., got involved after growing up on a farm in rural western Pennsylvania.

“I went from showing horses and cattle to showing women,” he says with a laugh. “For me, it wasn’t a gay issue, just a way for me to experience something beyond the fences and meet people.”

Contestants like him because he’s frank, and has no other agenda than building them up.

“A lot of people in the gay community just have a natural flair. Gay men can be very honest. A gay man isn’t going to hold back. He’s going to say you look good in this or you don’t. The women appreciate this,” said Welch, a customer service representative for a pharmacy who calls pageants his hobby.

In Atlantic City, the gay community salutes the pageant in events before and after the crowning.

The first is the Miss America pageant parade, held the night before the pageant, featuring all 51 contestants riding down the Boardwalk sitting atop open convertibles. Known by some as the “Show Us Your Shoes Parade,” its chief tradition is said to have started in the late 1970s in a gay cheering section.

Legend has it that two men among the gay contingent at New York Avenue and the Boardwalk peered into the cars and saw the contestants were wearing slippers or less, figuring no one would see their feet.

They called out “Show us your shoes” to embarrass the women, and the chant caught on. Since then, state-themed shoes have become the stars — Miss Idaho’s have potatoes on them, Miss Texas’ are cowboy boots, etc. — as fans along the route yell “Show us your shoes!” at the passing contestants.

The gay contingent at New York Avenue on parade night draws from beyond Atlantic City, too. Gay bars in Philadelphia — 60 miles away — sponsor bus trips to the parade and the 48-room Surfside Resort Hotel fills up for the week, many of them gay men affiliated with the pageant in some way.

“Who fixes the contestants’ hair? Who does all the gowns? Who does the dancing, the choreography, the sets, the production, the hair? They’re all gay!” said hotel owner John Schultz.

For 12 years, his gay nightclub has played host to the Miss’d America Pageant, a beauty pageant for drag queens on the night after Miss America.

Miss’d America spoofs the original with a half-dozen near misses competing for dead flowers and a dime-store tiara, the $25-a-ticket proceeds going to the South Jersey AIDS Alliance.

Former pageant CEO Leonard Horn says the gay community has made valuable contributions to the pageant, helping keep it alive.

“There were many gay men who were involved at every level of the Miss America program, from state to national, and they made a very important contribution,” said Horn, who ran it for 12 years. “They’re talented, imaginative, creative and they really helped the Miss America program.”