I must be a bit behind the times because I have only just heard of this to-do over the Miss USA pageant. Perez Hilton, gossip-blogger, F-list celebrity and an openly gay man, was a guest judge at the pageant. As such, he was allowed to pose a question to one of contestants during the question and answer portion of the show when the contestants try and prove that they are not just pretty faces, they actually have the acumen to realize how important it is to talk about world peace. Hilton asked Miss California (who was apparently considered a front-runner in the competition) what she thought about gay marriage, namely did she think that the relatively recent legalization of gay marriage in several states was something that should be expanded to other states.
Miss California's response was that she had been raised in household where marriage was defined as being between a man and a woman and so that is what she believed. She actually doesn't say whether she thinks gay marriage should be made legal or more states or less and yet the gay community (most notably, Perez Hilton) has found a new image to hate and Christian conservatives (i.e. Fox News) have found a new person to love and many in the press and pointing to her homophobic answer and saying that that is where she lost the competition to become Miss USA.
Aren't we missing the point here? Wasn't this country founded on the separation of Church and State...that is, we can control what is legal and illegal but those definitions should not be influenced by our own personal beliefs. I almost feel as though those on the Right believe that if gay marriage is legalized in their state, THEY will be forced into one. Of course that is not what happens, the legislation doesn't even force churches to open their doors to gay couples. What it does do, is make a civil union legal between two members of the same sex who are choosing a particular lifestyle.
Miss California is entitled to believe what she wants to believe. The way her response was interpreted as 'she is not in favor of legalizing gay marriage' is part of the problem. Those in favor of gay marriage need to stop making it an issue of homophobia and instead make it an issue of equality. If we need an example we can look at Canada, they have legalized gay marriage and there have been no sightings of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
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