Ex-beauty queen Jossie Ochoa came out on Instagram with a photo of her and her girlfriend kissing. In a recent interview, she talked about the fallout.

Former Miss Guatemala U.S. Jossie Ochoa on Coming Out, Cyberbullies and Why She Hates the Word Lesbian

In a recent interview with Latina.com, ex-beauty queen Jossie Ochoa, who starred in Univision’s reality TV series “Nuestra Belleza Latina” for two seasons, said she received some harsh comments after coming out this summer: “People would say things like ‘go kill yourself.’”

The former Miss Guatemala U.S. revealed her same-sex desires on Instagram in July with a photo of her and her girlfriend kissing. The caption read: “Your energy is irreplaceable! Love you bebita. 3 years.”

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The comments ranged from loving and supportive to insulting and hateful. “I wish you with all my heart a happy life,” wrote one follower. Another responded: “If you had a bad experience with a jerk, don’t let [that] confuse you. [You’re] young and got time to think.”

But the vast majority of comments were affirming: “Ninety-percent of it was positive and the remaining…was just hardcore bullying,” she told the site.

Although the hate has been hard to endure, she told the magazine that she’s happy to educate the public and spread awareness about LGBT issues, especially among Latinos: “I just think it’s so amazing to be one of the first Latinas to speak about something so sensitive, especially in a community that is very religious and conservative,” she said.

She’s not, however, interested in boxing herself into a sexual identity category: “I don’t like to label myself because I have had heterosexual relationships but this has been my longest and most real relationship….I am guided more by personalities, energies, attitudes.” She also eschews the term lesbian, saying, “I hate to use the word lesbian because I feel like there is a stereotype that goes with it. People will say to me, ‘Oh well you don’t even look like a lesbian.’ But there isn’t a prototype that all lesbians have to follow.”