If you don't know what this is about which rock have you been hiding under?! And can I come join! These three beauty queens, including Miss USA 2008 (right) and Shanna Moakler, president of the Miss California pageant and former Miss USA (centre) are representing the NOH8 campaign, a Californian body aiming to overturn Proposition 8 - that is the bill that made gay marriage illegal in the state of California last November. Why is this issue relevant now?
This is Carrie Prejean Miss California 2009. On the 19th April she competed in the 58th Miss USA pageant. She ended up first runner up. This image shows her answering a question asked by celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton. The question?
“Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalise same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?”
Her answer?!
“We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage,” Prejean said. “And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.”
The main criticism of her answer was not the fact she is homophobic (the answer does not suggest this but her statements since have). It was that she did not answer in a way that a winner of Miss USA should with Perez's suggested answer rounding up the overall view of those involved in the pageant.
But the most important part of the controversy is that it has resulted in a national focus on the issue of gay marriage in America resulting in multiple states legalising these types of marriage in the last week. This week a national vote was taken by CBS where 42% supported marriages for same-sex couples up 9 points from last month, 28% said same-sex couples should have no form of marriage at all, down 7 points and 25% support civil unions for the couples. Progress is change! In fact the Grand Old Party is even starting to recognise the damaging effect their gay policy is having on them - if that can change you know these times they are a-changin'!
No comments:
Post a Comment