By now you’ve undoubtedly heard about the controversy over Miss California Carrie Prejean’s comments against gay marriage at the Miss USA pageant over the weekend. Prejean answered a loaded question from judge Perez Hilton about whether she thought states should legalize same sex marriage. She said, that for her and her family, she thought marriage “should be between a man and a woman.” Prejean stumbled a little at the beginning, saying that you can chose “same sex marriage or opposite” in our country, but it wasn’t that bad and considering some of the incredibly stupid and muddled things pageant contestants have said in the past it was adequately stated and to the point.

At least Prejean answered the question
Prejean ultimately was declared runner up, and believes she lost the crown because of her politically polarizing answer to that question. It probably did cost her the crown, and pageant owner Donald Trump confirmed that low scores in the question and answer phase affected the outcome. Meanwhile second runner up Miss Arizona gave a memorized nonsensical answer to a question about universal healthcare. She said “I think this is an issue of integrity regardless of what I think and what end of the political spectrum I stand on. I was raised in a family to know right from wrong and politics, whether you fall in the middle or the left or the right. It’s an issue of integrity whatever your opinion is, and I say that with the utmost conviction.” That makes absolutely no sense. [Thanks to Michael Buck of great YouTube show What the Buck for that quote]

Prejean: 1, Perez: 0
In an appearance on the Today Show yesterday, Miss California defended her statements on gay marriage, saying they were “biblically correct.” Perez Hilton spewed venom in his Skyped interview with Matt Lauer, making Prejean seem like much more of a sympathetic character despite her exclusionary politics. While I don’t agree with her at all on this issue, I feel she had the right to state her opinion when asked. It doesn’t matter if I disagree, she was asked a question and she answered it. She calmly and rationally defended herself to Lauer and she was thoughtful about it. At least she answered the damn question and tried to think about it instead of giving some BS answer. She should have been judged on the quality of her answer, not whether the judges agreed with her politics or not. There are all sorts of opinions in this world and we don’t get anywhere when we can’t talk through our disagreements.

People are pointing out that Prejean is getting a lot more mileage out of her controversial answer than the pageant winner and this is ultimately working out well for her. She seems to be aware of the publicity, and told Lauer that she wouldn’t change a thing, that winning wasn’t what God wanted for her, and that “I wouldn’t be here with you if I was Miss USA.”

After this controversy dies down we may still be hearing about Prejean. According to RadarOnline, who spoke with her grandmother, she’s been dating record-setting Olympian Michael Phelps:

Miss USA runner-up Carrie Prejean is set to make headlines with something other than her anti-gay marriage comments. Her grandmother Jeanette Coppolla confirmed to RadarOnline.com exclusively that the beauty queen has been casually dating Olympian Michael Phelps.

“Carrie and Michael have been out to baseball games and lunch,” Coppolla said. “He always calls her when he is in town and they go out.”

Not just a pretty blonde, Prejean is fully aware of Phelps’ lothario reputation and is taking the flirtation with the swimmer in stride.

“Carrie knows that he has dated a lot of girls but she enjoys going out with him and isn’t serious about being in a relationship with him,” she added. “He’s a nice guy and she likes him.”

Earlier in the week, she played it coy when first asked to address the rumors of a relationship with Phelps, dodging Miss USA host Billy Bush’s questioning by saying, “That’s not appropriate to answer right now. He’s a great man…You can call me on a later day and we can talk about that.”

[From Radar Online]

Prejean is not Michael Phelps’ style, she’s a co-ed at San Diego Christian college and she’s obviously very devoted to her Christian beliefs. He’s been linked to multiple girls recently including a Vegas cocktail waitress and I bet that Prejean is frustratingly unattainable to him.

I don’t agree that marriage is only between a man and a woman and I find it baffling that same sex marriage is still an issue in 2009. Why don’t all couples have the same basic rights? It seems ridiculous that this is something we’re still talking about as somehow controversial. It must be incredibly difficult and disheartening for the couples who have struggled to have their unions recognized for years. That said, I’d rather hear someone say they disagree with me respectfully than yell at me or call me stupid or a bitch for having a different opinion. Prejean told Matt Lauer that she was asked her opinion and she gave it. Integrity and graciousness are what we look for in a pageant winner and Prejean has those qualities, even if a lot of us don’t agree with her politics at all. She’s not enough of a skank for Michael Phelps, though.

Meanwhile Prejean’s grandmother had some barbs for Perez Hilton. She told Radar Online “I don’t know why that gay guy Perez was even judging a contest with a bunch of girls. That doesn’t make any sense. He should be judging a Chippendale’s contest.” At least Prejean’s sister is a gay rights activist, although her grandmother claims “Her sister Christy is not gay, she just has her own mindset. But she’s not gay, we just feel sorry for them.” A lot of us feel sorry for ignorant people too. That doesn’t mean we should get in a fight with them though, that doesn’t solve anything.