THE national Miss Gay SA beauty contest, due to be held in the Nelspruit civic centre on Saturday night, is receiving international media attention after a report earlier in the week that a conservative church is calling for its cancellation. Now international press have picked up on the story with CNN due to conduct interviews with some of the participating drag queens on Thursday, according to a contest judge. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has also expressed interest in covering the pageant. Pageant organisers, however, are claiming that they have received threatening telephone calls demanding they call a halt to the pageant. At this stage, however, the town council is not planning to beef up security at the pageant. Earlier in the year the Miss Gay Western Cape pageant held in Cape Town — widely considered South Africa’s pink capital — was temporarily marred by a cannister of tear gas that was thrown into the event.