I'm a gay man, but Perez Hilton is an idiot. He doesn't speak for me nor does he speak for the gay community at large. He's just someone who happens to be gay and became famous by gossiping and making nasty comments about celebrities. As far as I'm concerned, he can go back to the rock he crawled out from under.
I believe in being tolerant of other people's beliefs. Miss California Carrie Prejean has a right to believe gay marriage is wrong if she so chooses. I disagree with her of course and think her views are bigoted and ignorant, but she is entitled to them. As long as her beliefs don't violate my civil rights, she can believe what she wants. I reserve the right to try to educate her about why I feel gay marriage should be allowed, but in the end I will not demand she adopts my point of view.
However there are consequences. People seem to think that free speech gives them a free ticket. I'm here to remind them it doesn't. You are entitled to a prejudiced viewpoint, yet you cannot expect others to ignore it. If someone chooses to believe African-Americans should be segregated and publicly makes those views known, they probably won't be asked to speak at the next NAACP meeting. General Mills probably won't put that person on their next box of Wheaties. The same is true with the Miss USA pageant
Should Carrie Prejean have been denied the Miss USA crown? She wasn't disqualified because of her response so she wasn't "denied" anything as some people might have you believe. Still it might have swayed votes. That's completely fair. I, as a gay man, know I would not have voted for her because of her response. Other judges might have.
Ultimately when the votes were counted, she lost out. Don't try to convince me she was a victim.
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And Perez needs to take a Mydol and get over it.
Great point!
I wonder how she would have been treated before Prop. 8 was on the ballot. Prop. 8 was a horrible thing, but Prejean did not do it.
I agree with your assessment that it was unfair in that none of the other contestants were asked that question. I blame the pageant's officials for allowing that to happen. I also think they should have prescreened the judges questions to prevent such a controversy.
However, she did voice her opinion which at least one judge took offense.
Let's change the scenario a bit: It's the mid-70's an African-American judge asks a contestant her views on interracial marriage. The contestant says that she personally thinks it's wrong for her family and her country. Now should that question have been allowed? Maybe, but then it probably should have been asked of all the contestants. But it was allowed, and therefore it is allowed (and expected) that the judges take that contestant's answer into their decision. Would you blame the African-American judge if he then voted against that contestant based on her answer?
Now was the only way Ms. Prejean could have won would have been to lie about her beliefs? No. She could of handled the question differently knowing she was talking to a gay judge. She could have said something like "Gay marriage is an extremely emotional issue in our country. I believe it should be left up to each state to decide according to the will of its people." That way she didn't have to necessarily place herself in the firing line while not denying her stance on the issue either.
As I said, I think the blame ultimately lies with the pageant officials who allowed the question, not necessarily Perez Hilton (though I still think he's an idiot).
Perez is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to media. And yet, reading his blog I don't find it as offensive as it seems when only one sentence is being sliced out of it. In fact he said pretty much what you said: there is no right answer, but there was certainly a better one.
I don't think there's anything wrong with asking her that question. She is competing for the job of America's MOR celebrity. Celebrities get asked these kinds of questions often. As Miss California, she is more likely to be asked this question than a question about bail outs or Afghanistan.
True she wasn't expecting it. And in her confusion she blurted out what she believed, instead of an answer that would have been sensitive to the person asking it, an openly gay man.
Had she answered it more skillfully, she would have had that crown in the bag. Now she's counting on the fact that everyone hates Perez Hilton, instead of simply saying, if I could have done it again I would have been more sensitivity to Perez. Now that would have been a classy answer with integrity.
Actually the judges were given a list of political questions to ask and Perez offered this one and they said yes. I think that as a representative of the pageant if not the USA that it is important that you be able to think of an non-offensive answer at the drop of the hat. That's kind of what you're for.
Finally I don't really care what she thinks about gay marriage it is her affair but it is in the best interest of gay rights when people with dumbass opinions look just like dumbasses.
But then was it fair to ask her or any of the contestants an obviously difficult question that no matter how you answer it will cause issue with some one?
The Miss USA competition is not a bastion of intellectual thought. It's like me asking my preschool children what they think of the Middle East problem.
She had the right to her opinion and not every one has to agree with gays and as a gay man myself even I don't agree with most of the gay community's views and beliefs.
Was that fair? Absolutely not! Was it justified? Yes, on the terms of what the contest stated.
Either way it just shows people that gays still have a long way to go and marriage for us continues to be a very sensitive and important issue.
A wonderfully written piece!!
I disagree slightly about not her having a PC answer.
Part of the job of Miss USA is being an ambassador and spokesperson. The question segment of the pageant is to test how well-spoken the contestant is and whether they can think on their feet. She failed in this regard. Given who she was responding to (i.e. a gay man), she could have used more tact (and smarts) to possible offense.
I gave the example in a comment above of a more appropriate response for a would-be representative of the people of the USA: ""Gay marriage is an extremely emotional issue in our country. I believe it should be left up to each state to decide according to the will of its people."
Damn this non-editable commenting system on Open Salon!
WRT Miss California, now that she's shed light on contemporary sexual politics, maybe we should ask her what to do about the Middle East.