Very Short Rant: Miss California says, "No Offense!"

From MSN:



If there is a YouTube moment from Sunday's show, it may be Miss California's answer to a question about legalizing same-sex marriage. The tall blonde stumbled some before giving an answer that appeared to please the pageant audience.

"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."

Some in the audience cheered, others booed. The answer sparked a shouting match in the lobby after the show.

"It's ugly," said Scott Ihrig, a gay man, who attended the pageant with his partner. "I think it's ridiculous that she got first runner-up. That is not the value of 95 percent of the people in this audience. Look around this audience and tell me how many gay men there are."

Charmaine Koonce, the mother of Miss New Mexico USA Bianca Carla, argued back.

"In the Bible it says marriage is between Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve!"

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Oh, so many annoying things in this, but by far the most annoying to me is Miss California’s “No offense to anybody out there” addition to her answer. I understand that people have all sorts of ideas about what other people should do with their lives, but to take a side that denies people a lot more than just a piece of paper, and then to say “no offense,” is, well, offensive. If you’re going to take a stand on something that denies others, you aren’t allowed to say “no offense.”

See how short that rant was? Blink and it’s gone! * Blink!*