Regarding Miss California, At Least Anita Bryant Could Sing

When contemplating the white trash Lollapalooza that is the strange tale of Carrie Prejean, this year's Miss California and first runner-up to the Miss U.S.A. 2009 crown, vs. the Coming Storm of Gay Marriage, it's best to acknowledge the bikini-waxed elephant in the room, which is that the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) considers a bleached blonde 21-year-old girl with artificially augmented breasts who's apparently never had a serious long-term relationship in her life to be the ideal spokesmodel for their cause.

There, we've said it. Never mind the easy metaphors, all of which are too obvious. Instead, let's bite right into the Velveeta-stuffed center.

Cue the circus music and send in the clowns.

Only in America would the notion of a nearly-naked fundamentalist Christian beauty queen tossing her processed hair as she parades brand new, pageant-bought plastic breasts across a Las Vegas stage in front of millions of television viewers with all the modesty of a blue ribbon heifer at a county livestock fair (the same fundamentalist Christian beauty queen who would later tell a television reporter that she heard God whispering in her ear as she answered a celebrity-worshipping Internet gossip columnist's question about gay marriage) be treated as anything other than an occasion for high comedy and mirth.

Were these times any other than the politically charged times they are, the subsequent media firestorm set off by Miss Prejean's carryings-on would be similarly laughable. But since these are the only times we have, it's worth noting that there's been a metallic aftertaste of self-serving manipulation to this story from the beginning. Furthermore, there's more than enough of that cynical opportunism to go around, and it encompasses everyone: from Perez Hilton, the Internet gossip columnist who asked her the question in the first place, to the organizers of NOM, to the pastor at Miss Prejean's "home" megachurch, to the Miss U.S.A. pageant, to the media who are covering a story that has legs in every sense of the term, and of course, to Miss Prejean herself.

To recap, for anyone who hasn't turned on a television or computer, or read a newspaper in the last week: on April 29th at the Miss U.S.A. pageant, "celebrity blogger" Perez Hilton asked Miss California if she thought that the equal marriage ought to be extended to gay and lesbian couples across the country.

"I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other," Prejean famously replied. "We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage and, you know what, in my country and my family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anyone out there," she tittered, knowing full well that she was offending millions of people watching and maybe rooting for her. "But," she trilled, "that's how I was raised and that's how I think it should be between a man and a woman."

Some members of the audience booed, surely a first for the Miss U.S.A. pageant. Maximizing the Jerry Springer quality of the situation, a brawl broke out in the lobby after the show with Miss New Mexico's mother, Bianca Matamoros-Koonce, shrieking "In the Bible it says marriage is between Adam and Eve, not between ADAM AND STEVE!"

In short order, Mr. Hilton went on a series of shrill public rants, calling Miss Prejean a "dumb bitch" on his website and dropping the "c-bomb," at a stroke eliminating any chance of being taken seriously as an advocate for marriage equality, and handing the mouth-breathing window lickers of the anti-gay marriage movement their very first swimsuit-clad Martyr Barbie. To his credit, in his seemingly inexhaustible quest for personal celebrity, Hilton was able to leverage his involvement with this story into an additional fifteen minutes of everyone in America knowing his name.

For her part, Miss Prejean's lip gloss was barely dry before she flung herself at the first camera that found her and began claiming that speaking from the heart had "cost her the crown" (a claim that seems dubious in light of later comments from pageant officials which suggest that she was far enough behind in her scores that she was never any real threat to the ultimate winner, Kristen Dalton of North Carolina.) Still, it was a shrewd move on Prejean's part, one that would allow her to later assert that she was a victim of political correctness and a martyr to pandemic liberalism. She claimed to be shocked by the response to her simply speaking her mind.

In one of her first interviews, she seemed to use her sister as a human shield by claiming that Christina Prejan, 22, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, was "a gay rights activist."

This was clearly news to the heterosexual Lt. Prejean who said she was "surprised" that her sister referred to her by a title that Lt. Prejean "had never given [herself]." Christina Prejean loyally suggested that perhaps her sister had said it in order to showcase how "tolerant" the Prejean family was (a misfire of shock-and-awe proportions, if that was indeed her intent.) Lt. Prejean said she too was appalled by Mr. Hilton's comments about her sister.

Carrie Prejean gave a series of interviews, including one with Greta van Susteren, where Prejean generously conceded that she thought "there should be rights for people, you know, especially in California. I think that people that are homosexual should have some rights, you know, hospital rights, and things like that." On the subject of civil unions, she admitted that she needed "to be more educated on that," and when she had "a better answer" for van Susteren, she'd "get back to [her] on that one." When asked about "hate" comments in response to her stance, she gushed about having received two or three thousand new Facebook Friend requests from others who share her views.

According to a statement from Keith Lewis, one of the state directors for the Miss California pageant, Prejean's first act upon returning to California "was to headline five services at a church that promotes homosexuality as both unnatural and abnormal." Lewis' statement went on to say that the pageant organizers "stand by our concern for her individual image and look forward to a time in the near future when she can put down her personal agenda and assume the responsibilities associated with being MISS CALIFORNIA USA, including promoting our official platform, 'The Beauty of California,' which sole purpose [sic] is to embrace diversity."

Former San Diego Chargers defensive back Miles McPherson, who was active in the campaign to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriages in California last year, founded the church in question, The Rock Church. According to press reports, Prejean has been attending the church for approximately four years, the same length of time she's been appearing in pageants and preparing for her run at Miss U.S.A.

It seems doubtful in retrospect that Mr. McPherson would have been oblivious to the potential media advantages for his organization of having one of his own ascend to the Miss U.S.A. throne, where she could freely promote and disseminate his church's agenda from what must seem to his congregants like a lofty pedestal.

In short order, Miss California appeared to put her stated platform of charitable works on hold and immediately aligned herself with the rabidly anti-gay NOM organization (famously pilloried for their histrionic and widely-parodied "coming storm" television commercials made famous on YouTube) giving interviews such as the one she gave to journalist Rex Wockner in which she asserts that gay people aren't born that way, rather "it develops over time." When Wockner asked her hypothetically if she'd ever have coffee with Perez Hilton, she replied, "Um, I'm not sure if I would have coffee with him. If I did, I'd bring Miles [McPherson, pastor of The Rock Church] with me."

Enter Maggie Gallagher of NOM.

No slouch herself when it comes to pushing her agenda and seemingly never having met a television camera she didn't like, NOM's gimlet-eyed president appeared on a Larry King Live segment this past weekend hosted by Joy Behar alongside actor- turned- fundamentalist- pundit Stephen Baldwin, ex-Miss U.S.A. Shanna Moakler, and the Rev. Nicole Lamarche, a progressive Christian minister who believes in equal marriage (who coincidentally also happens to be a former Miss California.)

Early in the segment, Baldwin, as though sensing his airtime might be curtailed if things heated up between Moakler and Gallagher, addressed an assertion by Lamarche that God was "a God of love" and that marriage should be available to any loving, committed couple regardless of their sexual orientation, by bellowing, "When two of the same sex lie down together, that is SIN!" He went on to elaborate that "God wrote the Bible, so that's what God has to say." Obviously delighted to be part of the Prejean story, even tangentially, he asserted that he too was "being persecuted" for believing in "traditional marriage," though when pressed by Behar for an example of his persecution, he seemed unable to provide one and settled for pouting handsomely whenever the camera was on him.

Then Gallagher waded in. Sounding every bit the lace-curtain, pursed-lipped scold, and looking for all the world like a well-coiffed, portly incarnation of what writer Katherine Anne Porter once described as "one of those Irish Catholic girls born with an ingrained fear of sex," Gallagher upbraided Moakler, who is also the director of the Miss California U.S.A. organization, for her "tone" and the organization's response to Prejean. Moakler fired back, accusing NOM of exploiting Prejean's relative youth and tarring her "with a legacy of being an Anita Bryant."

Moakler is not the first person to make the connection between Carrie Prejean, Miss California U.S.A., first runner up to Miss U.S.A. 2009, and Anita Bryant, Miss Oklahoma 1958, second runner up to Miss America 1959. Both women leveraged their physical beauty to great effect in order to become effective voices for intolerance.

Miss Prejean is an adult, so the fact that she's being used to great advantage by both NOM and the Rock Church doesn't absolve her. Nor, in fairness, does she require absolution. She had an absolute right to say what she said, in the same way that people had an absolute right to take umbrage with it. In the same way that the Miss U.S.A. judges had an absolute right to decide that they didn't want a bigot representing their pageant at the Miss Universe competition later this year.

Lost in the midst of all of the self-serving, hypocritical hand-wringing on the part of Prejean's supporters about how This is AMERICA! and She just spoke her mind! and is now being "persecuted" for it is the resolutely unacknowledged fact that Miss Prejean didn't make her comments as a private person, she made them as a public person in a public forum in front of millions of people, moving them into the public, not private, domain.

No one has silenced her, or denied her the right to her opinions. If she had been as shocked by the response to her stance as she claims to have been, surely the thing to do would have been to hold her head high as first runner up, continue to represent California with grace and dignity, and cleave to her stated charitable platform like a lady instead of hinting, with Machiavellian aplomb, that the judges denied her the Miss U.S.A. crown because she spoke "from her heart."

Prejean claims to represent "all Californians," but her actions suggest that she represents only those who share her views, the views that were shaped by nearly $80 million from outside of California to grease the passage of Proposition 8. Furthermore, the speed with which the well-oiled right-wing media machinery has sprung to life around her does little to support her claim of surprise, suggesting instead a well-developed political instinct and an ability to manipulate and maximize the spotlight in the service of her own agenda.

It's ironic that Perez Hilton, in his naked quest for attention and personal fame, was the only player in this lowbrow soap opera who didn't pretend his role was about anything else. Furthermore, his immediate, gut-level emotional response to Prejean's reply was the only one I believed. The expression on his face caught by the camera when Prejean answered him would be familiar to any member of a minority who overhears the applicable bigotry in a place he, or she, doesn't expect to hear it. He looked like he'd been punched in the solar plexus.

While his later behavior could conservatively be called ungentlemanly, I have no doubt Hilton wanted Carrie Prejean to give a different answer than she did, not because he had an "agenda," but because he wanted her to be kind as well as beautiful. Naïve, perhaps, but I can sympathize.

Carrie Prejean has become a sort of anti-Susan Boyle. In the same way the public was stunned by how anyone as homely as Boyle could release such beauty when she opened her mouth to sing, they were similarly stunned by how someone as physically beautiful as Carrie Prejean was able to release such meanspirited divisiveness when she opened hers to speak. It wasn't just that was a bigot, per se. There is no shortage of bigots. They just usually don't wear tiaras.

The larger question is why we as a society continue to look for moral avatars in beauty queens, professional athletes, politicians, and movie stars---all professions that we know require copious amounts of artifice of one kind or another in order to generate the vision of wholesomeness they sell back to us.

All of the bit-players in this embarrassing pop-culture fart have used it to their advantage, but in the end, NOM is still going to be a widely-lampooned YouTube joke and Stephen Baldwin is still going to be a reality television personality that many gay men aren't averse to watching shirtless, preferably with the mute button pressed. On the upside, Mr. McPherson has an anti-gay marriage Malibu Joan of Arc doll for The Rock Church, the Miss U.S.A. pageant has recouped a publicity bonanza in the wake of flagging ratings, and Perez Hilton is a little more famous.

In short order, I predict that Miss Prejean may move to Texas, marry an astronaut or a quarterback, publish a Christian beauty book or a heavily ghostwritten memoir (do I hear Tiara of Thorns?) and become the answer to a Trivial Pursuit question in her own right. Are you listening, Saturday Night Live? Either that, or she'll become the next FOX superstar. Nothing about this tale of tiaras and tempests-in-teapots suggests that Miss Prejean doesn't have a clear agenda of her own and the media savvy to implement it.

Anita Bryant remains a lingering symbol of how the cruelest bigotry can wear a pretty face. But at least Anita Bryant could sing for her orange juice. Alas, since there was no talent portion of the Miss U.S.A. pageant, we may never know what gifts Prejan might have brought to the table if she'd been listening to her own voice that night in Vegas instead of whoever, or whatever, she claims was telling her what to say.

Comments

[michaleenflynn]

POTUSBO's and Miss CA's opinion on gay marriage are IDENTICAL.

How is she a bigot, but he isn't?

[michaleenflynn]

Wow - over two hours later and still no answer.

Speaks VOLUMES.

[GJKBEAR]

This was one of the most interesting articles I have read on this subject so far. Michael Rowe is bang on. Are you going to comment on her semi - nude photos and her lies too???

[Michael-n-Tom]

Excellent article! Great use of language, especially the comparison of Maggie to "... one of those Irish Catholic girls born with an ingrained fear of sex." Loved it!

[JuliaRain]

Congratulations Maine!

[NanDarien]

" 'The Beauty of California,' which sole purpose [sic] is to embrace diversity. " How laughable. It's obvious that the New California has transformed into The Old South.

[harbor619]

The next time someone says that we need to stick with biblical marriage in this country, ask them which of the eight kinds they would prefer.

Polygynous Marriage:
Probably the most common form of marriage in the bible, it is where a man has more than one wife.

Levirate Marriage:
When a woman was widowed without a son, it became the responsibility of the brother-in-law or close male relative to impregnate her. (Gen. 38:6-10).

A man, a woman and her property -a female slave:
The famous “handmaiden” sketch(Gen. 16:1-6) and Jacob (Gen. 30:4-5).

A man, one or more wives, and some concubines:
The definition of a concubine varies but they tended to be live in mistresses. Concubines were tied to their “husband,” but had lower status than a wife. Their children were not usually heirs, so they were safe outlets for sex without risking the line of succession. (Judges 19:1-30).

Male soldier and female prisoner of war:
Women could be taken as booty from a successful campaign and forced to become wives or concubines. Deuteronomy 21:11-14

A male rapist and his victim:
Deuteronomy 22:28-29 describes how an unmarried woman who had been raped must marry her attacker.

A male and female slave:
A female slave could be married to a male slave without consent, presumably to make more slaves.

Monogamous, heterosexual marriage:
Mostly arranged. Also remember that inter-faith or cross-ethnic marriages were forbidden for large chunks of biblical history.

[superjules]

Wow. Just wow.

[Jennifer DeMente]

Yes, the Bible does talk about different cultural types of marriage. But Jesus and the new Testament make it clear that God has a preference for regular marriage - one man and one woman.

[Michael Rowe - Huffpost Blogger]

Jesus said nothing whatsoever on the topic of either homosexuality or gay marriage in any of the Gospels, Jennifer. Have you read the Bible?

[GJKBEAR]

I concur with Superjules...WOW! Never looked at it that much - I guess there were 8 kinds of marriage. Kinda blows your mind, donn'it????

[SCCavie93]

I am sorry but did I miss something? At what point was President Obama asked the same question as Miss California? (THE SAME QUESTION?????) (Her question's focus was on the "other" 46 states".)

She starts off by trying to appeal to everyone by not taking a stand. "I am glad we live in a country where people can choose"....Why if people could choose, that question would be pointless.

Miss California's question was very simple and yet she FAILED. I felt sorry for her because she FAILED to ANSWER a VERY VERY simple question. (Now she is the victim? Please.) There was NO RIGHT or WRONG answer.

In fact, the question allowed her to defend her position yet all she could say was NO offense....and that was how I was raised. Was that to mean if you are offended, don't blame me but instead my parents??

(Basic skills....Take a postion and defend it with supporting details.)

Now she is using God,

[NanDarien]

Then-Senator Obama was asked a somewhat similar question by Anderson Cooper on July 23, 2007 at the Citadel in Charleston, SC during a Democratic debate. I've copied and pasted the question and response below.

COOPER: Senator Obama, the laws banning interracial marriage in the United States were ruled unconstitutional in 1967. What is the difference between a ban on interracial marriage and a ban on gay marriage?

OBAMA: Well, I think that it is important to pick up on something that was said earlier by both Dennis and by Bill, and that is that we've got to make sure that everybody is equal under the law. And the civil unions that I proposed would be equivalent in terms of making sure that all the rights that are conferred by the state are equal for same-sex couples as well as for heterosexual couples.

Now, with respect to marriage, it's my belief that it's up to the individual denominations to make a decision as to whether they want to recognize marriage or not. But in terms of, you know, the rights of people to transfer property, to have hospital visitation, all those critical civil rights that are conferred by our government, those should be equal.

[SUIGENEROUSLA]

Which proves Obama's answer was totally different. Obama is focused on providing equal rights, not matter what they are called. Whereas, Miss CA has yet to say gay people deserve any rights or even decent treatment.

In 41 states gay couples have no rights, and in 30 states gay people cna be denied employment or public accomodation (a seat in a restaurant, etc) simply because of being gay.

[Michael-n-Tom]

Obama also answered with eloquence. Miss CA didn't.
She admitted on TV Fox that she "stumbled" in her answer.
She also misstated the facts. We do NOT live in a country where we can choose.
She used unfamiliar language. Who ever heard of "opposite marriage?"
She expressed uncertainty "I think that I believe"
She offended millions of people. "No offense" but I don't think you deserve equal civil rights.

She could have answered, "I believe in equal civil rights for everyone, and it is each states responsibility to see that its citizens are treated equally. She would have brought the house down with applause.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Back in 1967 there was a married couple named Loving. Their marriage was *illegal* in sixteen (16) states, and the majority of Americans polled *opposed* their marriage many on the grounds of a heartfelt belief that the *Bible* condemned such unions.

Fed up with being harassed by police for no other crime than being a marriage comprised of a white man and a black woman, Richard Loving took his case to the Supreme Court.

That was 1967, and the Supreme Court ruled that those laws prohibiting inter-racial marriage were unconstitutional. The justices did so in direct defiance of popular opinion, and solely on the basis of the cold, hard facts of the case, and the content of our Constitution, and simple human decency.

Prior to Loving vs. Virginia, the woman I am now married to, the wonderful, elegant, amazing, talented *soulmate* that God has blessed me with, well, if it were 1967 our marriage would be *illegal* in sixteen states and the *majority* of Americans would think our marriage *wrong,* and many would no doubt assert that "the Bible says so!"

Being gay is an *orientation,* not a "lifestyle choice," and any first semester Psychology or Human Biology student knows this to be a scientific fact.

To continue to discriminate against the fundamental human right of consenting adults to marry while denying the actual facts of the matter is the height of intellectual dishonesty in the service of a morally bankrupt authoritarian political agenda.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Michael Rowe - Huffpost Blogger]

Oh, BRAVO Leland! I could not have said this better myself, even being as occasionally wordy and verbose as I have been known to be. Thank you for posting this reply to the piece. It cuts to the heart of the matter with a surgeon's skill.

[Champ Perro]

Semantics 1:

Following the easily understood "wordy" with the redundant, but more articulate, "verbose" provides evidence supporting Mr. Rowe's self-critique.

[michaleenflynn]

Really, Mr. Rowe?

In what document is marriage assured to be a "right"?

:::listening to cricket chirps:::

[JuliaRain]

Thank you Mr. Erickson.

[PhilipB]

I enjoyed reading your comment.

[foxbat]

Well said!!

[mrbline]

Perfectly said. Discrimination is a beast with a roving target. Ultimately it doesn't matter who it is as shown by the many formal and informal studies done over recent years. Given the chance, people will use even the slightest difference to degrade and assault others with impunity.

Congratulations and I wish you both a long happy life.

[lletaa]

Its ashame that such a beautiful girl has such an ugly ideology (religion). What gives with people that cannot see the human condition. Gay has been around since man has walked on the earth and will continue to be. So what if a guy is feminine and a girl is a tomboy. And then they somehow bring god into it to justify their uneasyness with gay people. Native indians considered gays as two spirit beings and treated them as everyone else. Miss Calif is sure beautiful on the outside, but inside she is ugly.

[Streetsweeper]

What do you think of Obama answer to the same question???

[julia23]

A lot more political and wouldn't upset and alienate people. Obama would never have implied that he lived in his own country.

He also wouldn't have posed nude for pictures, paraded around in his underwear, gotten fake breasts, and then try to say 'God' was on his side.

[mag68]

See, the catch with this argument that is repeatedly overused is the fact that Obama has waffled while running for prez. While serving in Illinois, he stated "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages." Everyone is so eager to use this guy and his name as a tool for their arguments, they seem to forget that he's just another politician. Of course he said he is against SSM while running for prez., a sad window on the minds of many americans. Either way, he "is" and he "isn't" and someday he will waffle again, so careful when you use him in your arguments. Either side you choose is wrong- I think that makes him darn good at being a politician, although it doesn't particularly earn him any respect from me. We all will just have to wait and see what he ultimately does.

[GJKBEAR]

Obama may have said that he thought marriage was between a man and a woman; but he also said that they should have the same rights as people who were married (in other words, civil unions) - Mrs. Prejean did not eve allow those - she would just deny all rights, and curl up and say that gay marriages or unions didn't exist.

Besides, it is hardly the same thing - he was not competing in a beauty pageant where he was being judged on poise, and intelligence and his ability to actually answer a question that was asked of him - (which he at least did and explained completely) - She was and she didn't answer and she didn't explain at all.

[gelfling545]

Good grief! Do they put something in the food at these pageants? She sounds just like Palin.

[Mnemanth]

Just goes to show that even damaged goods can be packaged well.

[rcdcr]

As a society, I think it is fair to say that we have lost our collective minds on this issue.

[BluePrideStephen]

At MOST Anita Bryant could sing. The singing juice commercial lady was flummoxed by California fruit. The small dade county campaign to REMOVE sexual orientation as a protected group in an anti-discrimination ordinance was so successful the growing anti-gay christian movement took her to California.

The Briggs Initiative (prop 6) targeted gay teachers with termination in vague and threatening ways. After a series of losses nationwide, the California campaign received world-wide focus. Harvey Milk became visible during this campaign. Anita Bryant turned out to be as vapid and shallow as the haters, mostly rabid christian evangelicals.

Great article, delt with better than any other I've heard or read. Big consolation to the many setbacks is to see just how far we've come in a single generation. From fighting to not be excluded from a discrimination clause to fighting to be included in that grandest of church perrogotives - marriage. Well, NO ONE would have believed that we'd have a (1/2) black president in our lifetimes, either.

[Michael-n-Tom]

Poor Anita. When she divorced her husband, the fundies from her own church ostracized her because divorce was "immoral" according to their bible. She tried to build a singing career that went nowhere. She files for bankruptcy in two states, TN and AR. She had a promising future but now she is a sorry old woman living in poverty.

[Ozarks]

looks like she has capped teeth too.

[Rockwell]

I gotta agree with everything you said except the comment that Stephen Baldwin is still attractive to gay men. Fact is, he's the least attractive of the Baldwin brothers on the outside and his inside makes him damned repulsive, even with the mute button on.

In fact, I suspect he's painfully aware that he's the "plain, no talent Baldwin" and this is the demon that drives him to hate others. Expecially buff, beautiful gay men like myself. : )

[otter4771]

Ha. Just had to say I loved your response, Mr. Hottie. :)

[JScott]

Prejean......jeez she isn't even good enough to be called a Jean only a Pre Jean.

So the bottom line is same sex couples can't marry but fake boobs especially when some other entity paid for them is OK. And the one making the issue his real name isn't even Perez Hilton.

ABSURD....­..ABSURD..­......ABSU­RD........­..ABSURD!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!