Miss USA

That's right, Miss USA. Probably not a subject you'd expect me to write about, and until yesterday I wouldn't have thought I'd write about it either.

For those of you who don't know, there was a good bit of controversy at this year's pageant surrounding Miss California, Carrie Prejean and one of the judges, a man who calls himself Perez Hilton. As you may or may not know contestants are, at one point in the pageant, asked a series of questions, the answers to which can seriously affect their standing. The controversy began when Perez Hilton, an open and widely-known gay rights activist, asked Miss California this question: "Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?" Prejean responded with this answer: "Well I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. You know what, in my country, in my family, I do believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that’s how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman. Thank you."

I haven't yet heard an actual recording of the response so I'm just going on the words here, but it seems to me that she was, at first, trying to give the politically correct response, but then decided that she wanted to stand her ground and stick to her beliefs. I for one applaud her for taking a strong stand for her beliefs, and doing so with a response that I thought was well-worded and not inflammatory at all. Perez Hilton apparently didn't feel the same way.

Hilton called her answer "“the worst answer in pageant history", also saying "She lost it because of that question. She was definitely the front-runner before that." Now Hilton is openly gay and a gay rights activist, I don't agree with it but it's his choice. The thing is, you can't ask such an obviously loaded question, then when the answer offends you let your personal bias get in the way. So she doesn't agree with your opinion, she doesn't have to. What she did demonstrate is an uncompromising personality. She knows what she thinks is right and she refuses to back down from it, now whether you agree with her opinion or not, you have to give her credit for taking such a firm stand for her personal beliefs in that setting.

But if the story stopped there, I wouldn't be writing about this. No it gets worse. Hilton later wrote in his blog on perezhilton.com (formerly PageSixSixSix.com) "She lost not because she doesn’t believe in gay marriage, she lost because she’s a dumb b****!" The censoring there is mine, he just said it but I refuse to allow such coarse language on my blog uncensored. At one point Hilton apologized for the remark, but later retracted that apology and insulted Ms. Prejean even more saying on MSNBC (laughing) "I was thinking the c-word, and I didn't say it." Wow, such restraint, someone give the "guy" a medal.

Now I was always under the impression that the Miss USA pageant is supposed to be wholesome and clean. It was actually conceived as a rival to Miss America when the Miss America winner of 1950 refused to pose for pictures in a bikini. That makes me think that the pageant officials would want to choose judges of high moral character. Not necessarily Christian, but someone who people can look up to as upstanding. Apparently that's not the case, because they chose Perez Hilton.

As I mentioned before, Hilton, whose real name is actually Mario Lavandeira, is an outspoken gay rights activist. But let's not let that cloud our vision, we'll ignore that fact for now and focus on his celebrity gossip blog. He's well-known for using his blog to call out celebrities who he thinks are gay, encouraging them to "come out of the closet" so to speak, even if they maintain that they are heterosexual. He also has a habit of using images to try to humiliate the people in them.

For example, he posted up a picture of Miss California with the pageant host holding a microphone near her mouth for her answer. What's wrong with that? Well he doodled on the picture and turned the microphone into, well, certain male parts. I shouldn't need to get any more specific. He does this with a lot of images if you look through his blog, though I don't encourage you to do so. He draws all kinds of sickening things like this and apparently thinks it's funny. In addition to all that, he uses all sorts of colorful language on his blog, such as referring to pregnancy as being "spermatized". He also occasionally writes songs, two of which are titled "The Clap" (referring to the STD gonorrhea) and "My Penis." Yes, wholesome fellow.

Whose bright idea was it to hire him as a judge for the pageant, much less to allow him to ask such an obviously loaded question. Anyone can tell that there was only one "right" answer to that question, and that was an answer Ms. Prejean was not willing to compromise her morals to give. The Miss USA pageant is supposed to produce role models for young women to look up to. How can that goal possibly be accomplished when the contestants are required to be willing to leave their morals and beliefs by the wayside in order to conform to the opinions of an outrageously opinionated judge?

What REALLY irks me is that no one seems to care about how Hilton insulted Prejean. He called her a "b****" and openly admitted that he'd have preferred to use a certain "c-word" which is widely considered to be one of the worst words you could ever use to refer to a woman. He rips into her for not being politically correct saying "Yes. I do expect Miss USA to be politically correct," claims that she lost the pageant because of her answer, then insults and degrades her, all while sitting on his high horse acting like he's the upstanding citizen, vilifying her for being intolerant. And the media loves it. How can anyone put up with this "guy?" How can people simply stand by as berates and insults a bright young woman for sticking to her beliefs?

I'm personally appalled that anyone would have chosen him as a judge to begin with, but they follow up that genius idea by allowing him, a ridiculously outspoken and obviously biased gay rights activist, to ask a loaded question like that. Then they let him get away with cutting her down with words no one should use to speak about anyone, much less a Miss USA contestant, and no one says a peep, except to apologize for HER opinions, not Hilton's. Yes, the leaders of the Miss California pageant actually issued an official apology for Prejean's *obviously* bigoted and insulting opinion. But don't worry, Hilton can still say whatever he wants without fear of backlash. He is, after all, a champion of free speech and equal rights. Unless you disagree with him. But who could possibly disagree with a genitalia-drawing, privacy-invading fountain of profanity and filth like this saint?

As I said before, I applaud her decision to stand by her beliefs. But enough of my ranting. What are your opinions?