This week, Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton snagged the Miss USA title in Las Vegas, edging out first runner-up Miss California Carrie Prejean after the West Coaster gave a less-than-polished answer to a question on same-sex marriage — which may or may not have cost her the crown.
The question, posed by openly gay blogger and contest judge Perez Hilton, asked if same-sex marriage should be allowed in all states.
She gave a convoluted answer, stating: “We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage.
“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.”
It garnered cheers and boos, sparked a screaming match in the lobby and a firestorm online.
Hilton responded with a negative post on his blog and some name-calling.
Since then, both Hilton and Prejean have appeared on talk shows defending their actions.
Relevance of the pageant aside, that Prejean’s answer touched such a nerve is indicative of how much further gay-rights activists still have to go on the issue of marriage equality.
As her response demonstrates, the first hurdle is education. America is not a land where you can “choose” same- or opposite-sex marriage. If couples live in a state or “choose” to move to a state that has marriage equality, then yes, gays and lesbians can choose to marry. But if you live in the other 46 states, you don’t have a “choice.”
Prejean’s answer also demonstrates that she might be somewhat tone deaf on the issue of gay rights, even if she gave, in her words, the “biblically correct” answer: The question was posed by a gay man, several judges are gay or have gay siblings and her state pageant director is reportedly openly gay (and offended).
Regardless of the possibility of offending anyone, her answer was neither diplomatic nor polished — requirements for beauty queens — nor did it represent all Californians, who are awaiting a decision from the state’s Supreme Court on a public referendum that may determine the status of gay marriage in the state.
But her answer — and the heated response — sure was more interesting than hearing about world peace and starving children.