By Scott Williams
Up until now, I've intentionally avoided this issue, partly because of its volatility and partly because I've seen it as little more than a media event. But the more that comes out and the more I've thought about it, the more I'm beginning to realize that it's a cultural benchmark.
Miss California Carrie Prejean was apparently a heavy favorite going into the interview segment of the Miss USA pageant on April 19. That is, until she answered "the question." At least two judges reported giving her incredibly low scores for her reply, effectively giving the title to Miss North Carolina.One of the judges said she would have made her 51st runner-up if she could have.
I'll get to the question and answer in a bit, after we look at the reaction, which to me seems to be the big news on the whole thing.
Perez Hilton, the judge who asked Prejean the interview question, responded this way to her answer.
"She gave the worst answer in pageant history... I was incredibly shocked and incredibly frustrated and hurt and disappointed. Because that is not the kind of a woman I want to be Miss USA. Miss USA, she represents all Americans. "
And just this week, Keith Lewis, co-director of the California Miss USA pageant, also weighed in with his disapproval.
"In the entire history of Miss USA, no reigning title holder has so readily committed her face and voice to a more divisive or polarizing issue. We are deeply saddened that Carrie Prejean has forgotten her platform of the Special Olympics, her commitment to all Californians, and solidified her legacy as one that goes beyond the right to voice her beliefs and instead reveals her opportunistic agenda."
In case you haven't heard the question and Prejean's outrageous answer, here they are:
Hilton: “Vermont recently became the 4th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit. Why or why not?”
Prejean: "“Well, I think its great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, 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 and that's how I think that it should be—between a man and a woman."
Would it have been conceivable 10 years ago—even two years ago—that stating a personal belief for traditional marriage would decide the winner of a national beauty pageant or be characterized as a "divisive or polarizing issue" or an "opportunistic agenda "?
Although pageants today do encourage participants to champion positive social change in areas like special education, domestic abuse, and world peace (as in the movie, Miss Congeniality), these events are still among the more traditional celebrations within our society. For this to become a contentious issue within this kind of venue is ample proof that there has been a change in attitudes in our culture toward marriage.
Prejean this week has decided to support the National Organization for Marriage, which supports traditional marriage and campaigns against challenges to it. She hints in an interview on NBC that the pointed question and subsequent personal attack by Hilton and others may have led her to move from personal conviction to public crusader.
"Immediately after he asked me the question, I started talking [to myself] and I said 'Should I be politically correct or should I follow my heart and follow what's right to myself and my beliefs?' And I said 'You know what? I'm laying out on the table: This is who I am and this is what I believe in and I'm going to stand by what I believe.'
"I never thought in a million years this would be happening right now. I was attacked for giving my own opinion on stage at the Miss USA contest. And I'm going to do whatever it takes ... to protect marriage. "
Those within the pageant world who have attacked Prejean claim it wasn't her answer that offended them but her lack of sensitivity on a sensitive issue. For that matter, should such a volatile question have been asked in the first place? NBC's Matt Lauer questioned Hilton about that, and about whether this controversy is "ushering in a new era where these contestants are going to be subjectively judged on political, and moral, and religious beliefs?"
"I hope not, Matt. I personally would have appreciated had she left her politics and her religion out, because Miss USA represents all Americans," Hilton said. "Miss USA is not a person who is politically incorrect... It's about finding the perfect Miss USA."
When Lauer asked Prejean in the same interview segment if Hilton was giving her an impossible task with the question and his expectations, she said that she realized the pageant was over at that point and she just needed to speak the truth.
"I was ready for my question, and when I heard it from him, I knew at that moment—after I had answered the question—I knew that I was not going to win because of my answer. ... because I had spoken from my heart, from my beliefs, and for my God. ... With that question specifically, it's not about being politically correct, for me, it was being biblically correct."
"Claudia Jordan [one of the judges]... said that I should have been more in the middle; I shouldn't have given a specific answer. But that goes against what I stand for. When I'm asked a specific question, I'm going to give a specific answer. I'm not going to stand in the middle; I'm going to take one side or the other."
Prejean said she doesn't regret losing the Miss USA crown after being so close, because the experience has given her the chance to come out of the closet in defense of traditional marriage. It's also given the public a chance to see not just another mass-produced Barbie doll pageant winner, but someone who stands for convictions in the face of public disapproval.
"I know now that I can go out and speak to young people about standing up for what you believe in, and never compromising... for anyone or anything, even if it's for the crown of Miss USA."
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