Miss USA Pageant Brings Gay Marriage Debate to a Further Boil
Miss USA runner up, Carrie Prejean, has been raked through the media mud, called horrible names and been ostracized by Hollywood. By now, you have likely heard the reason behind the cruel treatment she has received: she spoke from her heart when asked about the issue of same sex marriage. 
Ms. Prejean’s response, “We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.” This response likely cost her the title, Miss USA. The judge, a liberal, gay celebrity blogger who goes by the name of Perez Hilton, was the one to pose the question and was later quoted as saying she “lost because of that question.” Prior to the interview portion of the competition, Ms. Prejean was running in lockstep with eventual winner Miss North Carolina’s Kristen Dalton. Less than half a point had been separating the two at that stage of the competition.
This story provides a great snapshot of the tragic state of debate surrounding this issue. Those who oppose same sex marriages (and there are many more social conservatives out there than what the main stream media and Hollywood would have you believe) are being stigmatized as ignorant, right-wing conservatives who are “out of touch” with “their own generation”. “The majority of California’s voters – more than 7 million people – voted to protect traditional marriage, and we congratulate Miss California for her conviction to speak her beliefs,” says Ron Prentice, the chairman of ProtectMarriage.com Coalition. Others states, such as Florida (62%) and Arizona (56%) experienced similar majorities when the issue was brought to a vote.
Why is the will of the people being ignored? Let’s look at the state of California. As mentioned, over 7 million residents of that state sided with Ms. Prejean by voting for Proposition 8. Ms. Prejean is Miss California, the same California that voted against same sex marriages. That being said, why are all of Hollywood and the liberal left so outraged? Their candidate candidly answered a question posed to her and her answer happens to coincide with a majority of the state she represents!
Miss Prejean should be applauded for not compromising her values and what she personally believes in. Perhaps this is the wakeup call America needed to bring the other side of this issue to the forefront. Unfortunately, this experience will serve as a deterrent for future contestants to answer questions candidly and without bias towards what they feel the “correct” answer is.
