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LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Miss Carolina Kristen Dalton, who was crowned Miss USA April 19, may have walked away the big winner, but first runner-up Carrie Prejean, a student at San Diego Christian College, is capturing the national spotlight with her answer to a judge’s question about same-sex marriage.
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You decide for yourself...
Did Carrie Prejean lose the Miss USA crown because of her answer to the gay-marrige question? |
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Miss California: I pray for and feel sorry for Perez Hilton (VIDEO)
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Miss California: ‘I wouldn’t change a thing’ |
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During the question portion of the nationally televised show, Perez Hilton, an openly gay gossip blogger, asked Prejean, 21, if she believed other states should follow Vermont’s lead in legalizing same-sex marriage. Until then, Prejean was widely viewed as the front-runner to win the crown.
“We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite,” Prejean responded. “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.”
While Prejean and Hilton are firmly planted on different sides of the issue, following the pageant both have publicly agreed on one thing: that her stand cost her greatly.
“It did cost me my crown,” she told Billy Bush in an interview with “Access Hollywood.” Bush also served as co-host of the pageant. “I stated an opinion that was true to myself, and that’s all I can do.
“It is a very touchy subject and he is a homosexual and I see where he was coming from and I see the audience would’ve wanted me to be more politically correct. But I was raised in a way that you can never compromise your beliefs and your opinions for anything.”
For his part, Hilton was incensed with her opinion and later blogged that if she had won the crown he would have stormed the stage and ripped the crown from her head. He also used vulgar language in personally attacking Prejean on his video blog.
“She lost it because of that question,” Hilton was quoted as saying in a subsequent interview. “She was definitely the front-runner before that.”
Some media reports said he later apologized to Prejean and offered to take her out for coffee. Other media outlets reported that he later rescinded the apology.
According to Fox News, the pageant question sparked a tense exchange between audience members in the lobby at the pageant’s ended.
Ron Prentice, chairman of Protect Marriage—a wide ranging coalition of conservative groups that backed Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that amended the state constitution to allow marriage as only between one man and one woman—lauded Prejean’s honesty.
“The outcry from some activists in the gay community over Ms. Prejean’s comments are indicative of how far they will go to force their same-sex marriage agenda on society,” he said in a statement.
“Miss California is vilified by Perez Hilton in a video blog for respectfully answering his question, and gay men are shouting against her in the theater lobby. Yet we are supposed to take homosexual leaders at face value that if same-sex marriage were legalized they would never force this teaching onto children in the schools.”
The accolades, however, dried up from the co-directors of the Miss California USA pageant, which Prejean won in November to advance to Miss USA. Both were so incensed by her response, they declined to meet her backstage after the contest or to congratulate her for finishing as first runner-up.
According to Fox News, California co-director Shanna Moakler, a former Miss USA, issued an apology to state pageant sponsors, saying “Prejean’s opinions do not stand for those of the Miss California family.”
Of the questions asked of the five finalists, Prejean’s was the most controversial. During Miss North Carolina’s time at the microphone, she was asked whether taxpayer money should be used to bail out struggling companies. Another contestant was asked if she would report domestic violence. The other two questions were should America have universal health care and should the U.S.—in the midst of a recession—be supporting Afghanistan.
Lost in the Internet firestorm is the significant volunteer work with which Prejean, who is studying to become an elementary school special education teacher, is involved. She works with Special Olympics and Best Buddies, a nonprofit program that helps the disabled gain friendships. She also promotes self-esteem issues in girls and women. According to officials at San Diego Christian College, Prejean is involved with a ministry to women in the adult entertainment industry, works with children in foster care with Voices for Children and helps refugees learn English at El Cajon’s International Ministry Center.
Prejean is not new to the pageant experience, earning the Miss Greater San Diego Teen 2004 and Miss Greater San Diego 2007 which led to being named first runner-up for Miss California 2008. In winning the 2009 statewide title outright, Prejean competed as Miss La Jolla against 90-plus women and was also selected Miss Congeniality, an honor bestowed by her peers.
As a model, she has been featured in Bliss Magazine, the PJ Salvage Fall Catalog and represents “Double Happiness Jewelry.” Her modeling jobs have also included high-end stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, Nordstrom and family favorite, Target. She was a finalist for a Deal or No Deal case model.
A fan of the San Diego Padres, Prejean has served as a member of the team’s “Pad Squad” for three seasons.
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