Runner up in the Miss U.S.A. Pageant: Miss California’s Carrie Prejean continues to grab the spotlight after a storm of controversy over a question posed by a judge during the pageant.
Celebrity blogger and gay activist Perez Hilton asked Prejean — an openly professing Christian —whether she believed in the legalization of same-sex marriage. She responded that she did not, while explaining that it was her personal opinion and not meant to offend anyone. With the events that followed, the volatile issues of gay rights, free speech, moral uprightness and religious sincerity were hurled into the public forum like a grenade.
Many believed Miss Prejean’s answer cost her the crown, including Perez Hilton who went on a subsequent tirade against her, calling her stupid and the b-word. His venom screamed: Agenda. Then according to Miss Prejean, Miss California U.S.A. officials pressured her to apologize for her statement and not talk about her Christian faith.
It was easy to sympathize with the 21-year-old young lady broadsided by the hostile ridicule of Perez Hilton and it was a pity that Miss California USA officials allowed themselves to be sucked in.
But then scandals started to surface. It was discovered that Prejean withheld information from pageant officials that she had posed in photographs in her underwear and topless when she was 17 while trying to make it in the competitive world of modeling. Her Miss California crown was now threatened as she was being portrayed as a liar, morally questionable and a poor role model.
Donald Trump finally came to her rescue supporting her right to free speech, which was really the central issue here, and decided to give her the benefit of the doubt on the photos and let her keep her crown after all. It should have ended there.
But now Prejean has announced her new political activism. She’ll be working with the National Organization for Marriage to protect traditional marriages.
She also told Christian icon Dr. James Dobson about Satan tempting her with the initial question about gay marriage.
If only Miss Prejean had simply ended with Trump, re-iterated her right to free speech and humbly apologized for lying about the photos, she would have done herself a huge favour. But the saga continues as the ominous clouds around the Miss U.S.A. Pageant continue to swirl and suck it up in a tornado of religion and politics.
