Miss America Booed Anti Gay - Marriage Answer

[sarahbina]

Some progress in mainstream America!

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton may have been crowned Miss USA 2009 on Sunday, but on Monday, it was Miss California Carrie Prejean's answer to a question about same-sex marriage from celebrity blogger and pageant judge Perez Hilton that was the night's biggest story.

During the show, Perez asked Carrie, "Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?"

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"Well I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. Um, we live in a land that you can choose same sex marriage or opposite marriage and, you know what, in my country and in, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman," Carrie said to a mix of boos and applause. "No offense to anybody out there. But that's how I was raised and that's how I think that it should be between a man and a woman."

Carrie's answer to the hot button question cost her the crown - at least according to Perez.

"The way miss California answered her question lost her the crown, without a doubt!" Perez told Access Hollywood after the pageant. "Never before that I'm aware of has a contestant been booed at Miss USA."

[Daniel]

http://www.towleroad.com/2009/04/mis...rrectness.html

Prejean also made the rounds to MSNBC in the 9am hour where she told Tamron Hall: "I can only say to him that I will be praying for [Perez Hilton]. I feel sorry for him, I really do. I think he's angry, I think he's hurt. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. He asked me specifically what my opinion was on that subject and I gave him an honest answer."

What stands out to me in the circumstance is how Ms. Prejean is making herself the victim of her own 'honest' homophobia.

If only the guy hadn't asked me that question I wouldn't have had to answer the way I did.....it's all his fault that I lost the crown! See! See! See! Where's my reward! I wants my Precious! Gollum! Gollum!

I guess beauty really is only skin deep.

[keltic63]

Do we really expect that these young women will have anything of substance to say, when what they've been taught, what they've been groomed for, and what they totally buy into, is that their only value to society is their beauty?

and I'm not so sure that Perez Hilton is any deeper than the ill-informed, shallow young ladies participating in the pageant.

[JoanMVhn]

Originally Posted by keltic63

Do we really expect that these young women will have anything of substance to say, when what they've been taught, what they've been groomed for, and what they totally buy into, is that their only value to society is their beauty?

and I'm not so sure that Perez Hilton is any deeper than the ill-informed, shallow young ladies participating in the pageant.

I have to agree with you.
I wonder if she's ever taken time to explore the world beyond shopping malls and pedicure shops?

[tdogg]

Keltic, I agree with you on both accounts. It's one thing to tell it like it is, but when one goes too far, which in my opinion Perez Hilton did, then it's not doing any favors for our (and his) community.

Does anyone take these contests seriously, other than the contenders and maybe their family? I'll have to admit, I watch Miss America sometimes, the swimsuit and evening gown sections are kinda fun But the question and answer part (the most serious) normally suck.

[Daniel]

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.c...-gay-marriage/

Interesting views below....

Avoid the Bully Trap
Rich Tafel

RichTafel is president of RLT Strategies, which provides personal and organizational strategy. An ordained minister and founder of Log Cabin Republicans, he was an early proponent of gay marriage.

In the recent dust-up between Perez Hilton, the gay blogger, and Miss California at the Miss USA pageant, a number of questions have arisen about her answer to his question on whether she supports gay marriage.

I think it was a perfectly acceptable question. And though I completely disagree with her, I think her response was perfectly fine too. It mirrors President Obama’s belief and practically every other politician’s views for that matter.

All of us have a belief system, whether it is informed by our faith or a secular world view. The freedom to share those even unpopular positions is what makes this nation great.

As the tide turns in favor of gay equality, it will be a sad victory if we become the new bullies.

In my hundreds of debates for gay rights with Christian conservatives, I was often subject to mean and personal attacks and at times was concerned for my safety.

As the tide turns in favor of gay equality, what a sad victory it will be if we become the new bullies. We lose the moral high ground that propelled our cause. Calling this woman an unprintable name, as Perez Hilton did, is indefensible.

The crime here is not that people have opinions we disagree with. The crime is treating those who disagree with us with the same incivility that they treated us to.


The New Mainstream
Ben Finzel

Ben Finzel is the editor of the Out Front blog. The views expressed here are his own.

Lost amid the noise about what Miss California USA said on Sunday and what that means was a potentially more significant statement. The head of the Miss California USA organization, Keith Lewis, wrote on Perez Hilton’s blog earlier this week that Miss California’s opposition to equal marriage rights “personally saddened” and “hurt” him.

Wow. No controversy about whether she should or should not have said it, just a simple declarative statement from her sponsoring organization that puts her comments squarely outside the mainstream.

If the head of a beauty pageant is comfortable taking a strong stand in favor of gay marriage, it means public opinion is shifting.

Beauty pageants tend to rely on a fairly conservative audience not generally assumed to be supportive of equal marriage rights. If the head of an organization behind such a pageant is comfortable taking such a strong stand, even in the face of opposition from its own state winner, that means public opinion is shifting and the old rules don’t apply in the same way. Everyone has a voice now and everyone has the ability to raise that voice on issues they care about.

To me, this situation is less about intolerance of one person’s opinion (as some are claiming is the case with Miss California USA) and more about how we will talk about this issue in the future. Are views changing on support for equal marriage rights? Will the ability of more people to comment and shape opinion change how society views this issue? I think the answer to both questions is yes.


A Case of Religious Persecution
Gary Schneeberger

Gary Schneeberger is vice president of Focus on the Family.

Those who lean to the left ideologically like to paint those of us on the other side as the “intolerant” ones. But some of them are going to have a hard time whitewashing the intolerance they’ve shown to Carrie Prejean since she said during the weekend pageant that she believes marriage should be defined as solely the union of one man and one woman.

The celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton — the pageant judge who asked her what she thought about gay marriage — called her names unprintable here and said he would have “snatched the tiara” off her head had she been crowned Miss USA on Sunday. He blasted her for bringing her “political and religious views” onto the stage — an odd complaint considering he’s the one who posed a political question.

If Carrie Prejean were in favor of gay marriage, she’d actually be in the minority of Americans.

He also said Miss USA ought to be someone who represents all the people and views of America — and that personally opposing gay marriage disqualifies her on that measure. What Mr. Hilton doesn’t seem to grasp is that if she were in favor of gay marriage, her views still wouldn’t “represent all Americans.” In fact, were Miss Prejean a gay-marriage supporter, she’d actually be in the minority of citizens in our nation, if you believe scores of polls and the voters in 30 states (including more than 7 million in her home state of California) who have passed laws or constitutional amendments to protect the natural definition of marriage.

The reality is, what Mr. Hilton is asking is not realistic. We don’t expect our president to “represent all Americans.” More than 58 million people did not vote for Barack Obama: does that make Hilton want to go snatch the presidential seal off his podium? Of course not. What Mr. Hilton and many other of Miss Prejean’s attackers really mean is that they’d prefer people not bring their political and ideological convictions into the public square unless they align with the political and ideological convictions of Mr. Hilton et al.

Does that sound even remotely like American ideals?

What has happened to Miss Prejean over the past few days is nothing short of religious persecution. No, it is not violent persecution — but that does not minimize its existence or its danger. She is being pilloried in the public square for deigning to answer a question guided, as she told the “Today” show, not by “political correctness but by biblical correctness.”

Doing so, most agree, cost her her dream of being Miss USA. If the U.S.A. embraces Mr. Hilton’s actions and logic as acceptable, it will cost our nation much more.


Anti-Gay Views Are Less Popular
Dan Savage

Dan Savage is the editorial director of The Stranger, a Seattle newsweekly, and the author of ”The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage and My Family.”

Miss CA “didn’t win.” Not winning is not the same as being “attacked.”

The Q&A segment counted toward her “grade,” or score, or U.S.D.A. ranking, or whatever it is that determines the winners of beauty pageants. Her answers didn’t sit well with the judges, and… it may have cost her, and it may be why she lost. And losing was the best thing that ever happened to Miss CA, frankly, and to the Miss USA Pageant.

I couldn’t have been the only person in America who was unaware that the Miss USA Pageant had happened, or was happening, or was still in existence, until this incident occurred. And Miss CA is going to be dining out on this “attack” for the rest of her life. I see a book deal in her future, lots of speaking gigs at evangelical universities, etc.

But the timing of this incident is bad. The controversy plays into right-wing “concerns”/talking points about “gay thought police,” i.e., people being penalized for their privately held religious beliefs. But let us recall that Miss CA’s beliefs weren’t privately held; they were publicly offered. And she was offering up her privately held beliefs in an attempt to win what is, essentially, a popularity contest.

No contestant would stand on that stage and argue for a ban on interracial marriage or come to the defense of a country club that banned Jewish members.

Anti-gay attitudes — whatever motivates them — are increasingly less popular. No contestant would stand on that stage and argue for a ban on interracial marriage or come to the defense of a country clubs that banned Jewish members or condemn single mothers. All those positions were once considered thoroughly respectable, and people could argue for them on TV — pundits, candidates, beauty pageant contestants — without fear or repercussion. Not true today. It’s not that there are racial thought police, or anti-Semitic thought police, or single-mom thought police. It’s just that times and attitudes change.

We’re not there yet on gay issues, but we’re clearly getting there. And that’s progress. No one has to like gay people or approve of us. But we’re headed toward a time when advocating for anti-gay discrimination — which is what she did — she said that only “opposite marriage” should be legal — won’t win you any popularity contests.


Choosing Truth Over a Tiara
Maggie Gallagher

Maggie Gallagher is president for the National Organization for Marriage.

Miss California’s answer to the political question asked of her by a judge was moving to the audience and the millions of new fans she now has for a simple reason: Her words were marked by genuineness, decency, a clear effort at civility, and great personal courage. The ugly response of her critics, especially Perez Hilton, is demeaning — but not to Carrie Prejean.

If politics and religion are inappropriate in a pageant, as Keith Lewis suggests, judges should not ask questions about hot-button political and moral issues. Carrie Prejean is a heroine to many because in that split second she had to decide, she chose truth over the tiara. It was an extraordinary moment.

I particularly like what Dan Savage has to say, and that's not because our eyes met in the NYC subway some years ago and I could have sworn we flirted with each other.

Mr. Focus on the Family? Oh....there's a persecution complex going on there, wouldn't you say? That seems to be the default position now for conservative Christians.

The hate that dare not speak it's name.

[RedneckDyke]

Miss America makes me think of that movie about the FBI agent undercover in the beauty pagent. Miss Congeniality. One of the contestants is asked what her perfect date would be and she answers April because it isn't too hot or too cold. I don't know why people pay attention to what any of them say in interviews anyway. They only care how they look in heels. But then, that could be just the old high school band nerd in me coming out.

[BruceChris]

And mainline Christian denominational hierarchies have learned to do a long time ago:

Smile sweetly, and say something very articulate sounding, that ultimately doesn't come down on one side or the other.

Being schizophrenic, I'm always of two minds about that sort of thing, Bruce Chris

And hey, Redneck, aren't bathing suits and 5 inch heels SUPPOSED to go together? It's the (Miss) American way!

[Unmasked]

Her supporters are the most rabid people on the planet. I was just on Facebook, and everybody is making support groups and using them as a forum to talk about "vile sodomites" who say that they is no cure and post links to NARTH. Nobody cares about Miss USA. Less people care about Miss California. The only thing that competition means is that you're a PC tart that looks good in an evening gown. She's not a martyr. She's a girl who didn't win. The judges have decided that she doesn't get to represent all of the airheaded sluts in America. I know I'd be absolutely heartbroken if I didn't get to be Queen of the tarts.

[NathanATX]

It was a loaded question, if not 100% bait. The thing is, she should have known.

Her answer demonstrated a lack of connection, poise and presence. She wasn't diplomatic, generous or kind. She was "right."

I would have failed her because she took the bait... hook, line & sinker... and reacted.

Folks, we have to stop reacting ourselves. We KNOW people are going to say things that are hurtful, irresponsible, etc. And we get so SHOCKED when someone actually does say or do something hurtful and we react as if it's a surprise. Perez Hilton, or whatever his real name is, did all of us a favor by reminding us that REACTING doesn't work. He is understandably being labeled as hateful, immature, and vicious. And we, because we also often react, get labeled right along with him.

And no difference gets made in the world.

People who think gay people shouldn't get married are more secure in the "rightness" of their position.

People who think gay people should get married are more secure in the "rightness" of their position.

One position everyone is in at the moment: VICTIM

[tymejumper]

I have to agree with you Nate. I feel that it is a free country and she stated her feelings and position. It was not popular and it was ignorant, however, she has a right to state it.

It was annoying to hear it especially when they found nudie photos of her. That also speaks to her morals and I can't say that they are really good at this time.

Unfortunately, she shot herself in the foot and we shot ourselves also by booing. Now the right wing conservatives have a martyr. "see, they don't even allow us free speech". Mark my words, that will be next. She will be the poster child for the defeat of the hate bill and gay marriage.

[Petrese]

shes already doing appearances on the 700 club, what a self serving little witch and an embarassment for California. Thing is she will likely come to realize the facts of life in a few years, including she was played by all these bigoted morons, and it will be an embarrassing part of her past she will like to live down

[merlin2921]

You know, the weird thing is, I thought California had this reputation for being quite a liberal place. But with their stance on gay marriage and now this, I'm certainly reevaluating that...is California considered a Bible Belt state? (Please humor the ignorant little Canadian. XD )