The Only Issue I’ll fight About

I’m not usually one to post about politics on my blog, save for the obligatory “I’m happy Obama was elected” post on November 5th, but this morning, I got angry. 

If you aren’t an avid pageant watcher, and I’m SO sure most of you are, you may not have heard about the little controversy involving Miss USA judge Perez Hilton and runner-up Miss California. Basically, during the final portion of the competition, Perez asked Miss CA about gay marriage , an extremely topical and relevant question given all the controversy revolving around Prop 8 in her home state. Miss CA basically said “It’s great that we can choose to either support it or not in our country, but I choose not to support it.” (She also called heterosexual marriage “opposite marriage,” which alone would have made me question her qualifications, but that’s another post altogether.) 

I was a little annoyed at this, but definitely not angry, until I read some comments on this Entertainment Weekly PopWatch blog post about the incident - they are nauseating: People saying Perez was pushing his “homo agenda,” people saying that Miss CA spoke for the 70% of American’s who speak “the truth-the BIBLE,” which will win in the end, saying Perez was a “jerk for even asking this question especially because he’s a homosexual” (so because he’s gay, he isn’t allowed to ask question?) and comment after comment of unbelievable, hate-filled, homophobic trash. 

I tried to look past it, to chalk it up to internet craziness. Then, I turned on the Today Show to find Kathie Lee and Hoda Kotb applauding this woman for “speaking her mind” and not being politlcally correct, something  many of the internet crazies were saying. Um…excuse me?! 

That is when I got angry. Yes, everyone is entitled to their opinion and entitled to voice that opinion in their private lives, when they are speaking for and as themselves, but a contestant for a title like MISS USA is most certainly NOT allowed to promote hate, to stand for exclusion, and to tell a large segment (yes, it’s a “minority,” but it’s not just 5 people sitting in San Francisco - it’s MILLIONS of Americans) of the population that to her, and she means “no offense to anyone” (how kind of you!), that because how they were born, they don’t deserve to live with the same rights as all us “normal” people. America stands for free speech, but it most certainly does not stand for hate and inequality. Would we applaud a Miss USA contestant for saying she didn’t believe in interracial marriage or that all Jews and Muslims are going to hell for not believing in Jesus? Absolutely not, so why should we be expected to support a Miss USA contestant who is homophobic? 

It also pisses me off that people act like Perez asked some completely inapropriate question – it was probably one of the most topical questions of the night. Gay marriage laws were just passed in two states and were a major part of the last election in Miss CA’s home state. Just because Perez is gay himself doesn’t mean he should shy away from asking topical questions about gay marriage, and asking those tough questions doesn’t mean he is simply pushing his agenda. He was getting information on a timely issue from a contestant. He said he asked the eventual winner of the compeetition about the Federal Bailouts, an equally topical and difficult question to answer. He wasn’t attacking Miss CA. She sabatoged herself.

And to those saying he wanted her to lie or hide her values, Perez very smartly pointed out in his Larry King interview that she could have answered in a way that fell in line with her own views while not completely alienating gays and lesbians. He suggested she could have explained she thought it was up to the states to decide, and he too, went on to explain that just because her personal opinion is that gay marriage is wrong doesn’t mean she should express it as a contestant in a national pageant. Anyone in a public forum representing a company or an organization knows that sometimes personal opinions can’t be expressed in full. For example, a CEO might be a hate-filled anti-Semite, but he sure as hell isn’t going to stand up, representing his company, and say he hates Jews. It’s not OK. Period. And her answer was most certainly not OK. I don’t care if it’s what she believes: you cannot promote hate of gays in a world filled and supported by them – the pageant industry. That is all.