Anti-Gay Rhetoric Costs a Crown April 21, 2009
Posted by Conrad Hubbard in : The Chip , add a commentWe live in a country that celebrates free speech. So it is that I believe that Miss USA pageant contestant Carrie Prejean, Miss California, is entitled to say whatever she wants, provided it doesn’t impinge upon anyone else’s Constitutional rights. (“The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins,” as Oliver Wendell Holmes said.) Nonetheless, I am glad to see that the right of others to express their beliefs has brought consequences to her use of her position to support a policy of disparity and bigotry.
What did she do? When prompted with a question about her thoughts on gay marriage, Miss California used her position to espouse the view that marriage should be solely reserved for heterosexual people. Again, she is free to hold and put forth this antiquated and harmful thought. This time, however, it apparently made judges of the contest take note. Miss Carolina, Kristen Dalton, carried away the Miss USA crown and Prejean was relegated to runner-up.
It is good to see anti-gay rhetoric treated with disfavor on the part of other free-willed human beings. Kudos to the pageant judges. It is good to see the country slowly moving towards an end to this particular institutionalized practice of discrimination.