Hate speech or great speech?

First of all, the Miss USA pageant is NOT real. It is entertainment. Donald Trump and NBC own the pageant. Does that tell you anything? Still not convinced? The host was from the gossip show “Access Hollywood.” And it was held in Las Vegas. It was hatched from reality TV but it isn’t real.

And Perez Hilton has all the depth of a paper doll. He was a pudgy actor wannabe with Cuban parents whose fame revolves around losing weight, being gay, having a famous-sounding stage name, and an obnoxious rant.

And Carrie Prejean may go to a Christian college but she’s also a model. I’m not sure her portfolio would contain much material for a lesson on modesty.

I’m not taking anything away from her and her answer; I’m just trying to put things in perspective. Right from the start, this was a shallow event with shallow players.

The question was a set-up from the beginning. Of course, the luck of the draw was when she chose the card that read, “Perez Hilton.” She had passed the point of no return at that moment.

The judge knew of her Christian up-bringing and he knew she would be challenged by his question. Besides, asking the question is one more chance to get the gay message on TV.

Hilton’s anger came when Prejean refused to cower to the power of the gay agenda, his #1 cause. Instead she gave an honest answer. She was booed, Hilton said. Well, she was also applauded by just as many.

This was a recount of the Prop 8 ballot question and the same outcome was displayed at the pageant in Las Vegas. (FYI, in 2002 the Nevada voters nixed same-sex marriage there as well.)

But a shallow event was followed by the shallow media, portraying her answer as a gaffe.
The headlines read, “Miss California puts her foot in it,” “A Beauty Queen Blows It,” and “Miss California stumbles over her answer.”

The stories used words like “awkward” and “fumbled” as they described the answer.

The pageant director was “personally saddened and hurt” by her reply.

All I can say is that the most genuine thing to come of it all was an honest answer that stood Hollywood on its ear. She said: “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 worry that the girl might be put on Homeland Security’s rightwing watch list for having such a definite opinion.

Of course, I think the world can see she has nothing to hide.
I fully expect charges of hate speech to come out any day.