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Miss California Features in New Pro-Marriage Ad

By Tim Waggoner

WASHINGTON, DC, April 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today released its new TV advertisement featuring footage of Miss California Carrie Prejean's encounter with judge Perez Hilton during the recent Miss American pageant.

Hilton, a homosexual celebrity gossip, had asked Prejean during the pageant about her views on same-sex "marriage," to which Prejean responded that marriage should be between a man and a woman. The answer sparked a controversy and widespread coverage in the media, while Hilton subsequently attacked Prejean on his blog, calling her a "dumb bi**h."

The ad - a continuation of NOM's campaign in defense of marriage - also features footage of a same-sex marriage activist from the Human Rights Campaign referring to supporters of marriage as "outright bigots."

NOM's new "No Offense" ad advances the religious liberty argument by informing Americans that a number of prominent legal scholars, on both sides of the debate, have warned that legalizing same-sex marriage in fact "will create widespread … legal conflict" for individuals, small businesses and religious groups.

This afternoon Prejean threw her full weight behind NOM's commercial, giving a speech at the official launch conference of the ad in Washington DC.  While on NBC "Today" this morning, the 21-year-old was asked about her decision to do so, pointing to the fact that she was "attacked" while on stage at the beauty pageant for merely giving her opinion.

"The National Organization for Marriage basically just respects marriages and people who support it," she said. "That's what I'm here to do today, protect traditional marriage." 

Prejean is standing strong in the face of extreme criticism. After Hilton called her a "dumb b*tch" on his blog, a British political leader made joked on TV that if Prejean is "murdered" everyone will know that it was he who murdered her.

Even Miss California USA pageant officials have criticized Prejean's decision to respond honestly to the judge's question, saying "no reigning title holder has so readily committed her face and voice to a more divisive or polarizing issue," and accused her of having an "opportunistic agenda."
 
But Maggie Gallagher, president of NOM said, "Carrie only said what the majority of Americans believe: marriage means a man and a woman.  Her example resonates, especially to many young Americans, because she chose to stand for truth rather than surrender her core values."

"The behavior of Carrie's critics raises a question in a lot of folks' minds," he continued, "if this is how they treat good people who disagree with them now, what will they do once they have the power of the law on their side?"

According to the NY Daily News, Prejean said she has been repeatedly asked to "apologize" for her comments, but has refused to, saying, "I was representing California. I was representing the majority of people in California."

To view the ad and read the letters from legal scholars, go to http://www.nationformarriage.org.

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