Carrie Prejean Will Not Be Winning Miss Congeniality

I have withheld comment on California's controversial beauty queen Carrie Prejean since the story broke because it was being updated so rapidly and I like to have all the information before I lay down the law. First, she was just a dumb bigot (who used Christian values to excuse her bigotry). Then she was a dumb bigot (who used Christian values to excuse her bigotry) with an axe to grind in Washington. Next, she was a dumb bigot (who used Christian values to excuse her bigotry) with an axe to grind in Washington and some scandalous pictures that didn't seem all too Christian-y and a set of silicon bags in her breasts paid for by the pageant.

Mary Elizabeth Williams made some excellent points about the Prejean controversy that I believe are worth serious consideration. It is easy (and valid) to charge Prejean with hypocrisy, but we aren't safe from the accusation being turned around on us:

Prejean wasn't even born yet when Vanessa Williams had to relinquish the Miss America title when nude photos of her emerged. Yet, a generation later, we still cling to the nearly impossible-to-uphold standards we set for our beauty monarchy -- sexy but not too sexy, pure but not prudish, outspoken but only if we agree with the opinion. She's a bundle of youthful contradictions, wrapped up in one breast-enhanced, bikini-clad, Miss USA bankrolled package. She may have lost the contest, but congratulations Carrie Prejean: You're truly the queen of no-win, dammed if you do, dammed if you don't American womanhood.

But, as my cold, dead heart was beginning to melt and I was just about to dismiss this whole Carrie Prejean thing as a) the result of a slow news week b) Miss USA trying to make itself relevant/important again to the American psyche c) further meaningless fodder for the "conservative martyr-complex," I read the transcript from Prejean's interview with Greta Van Sustren on On the Record.

Since it is Fox News, the questions were obviously not very hard-hitting. Sustren did not expect or require Prejean to be particularly knowledgeable about the subject which she is "so passionate" about, but it seems as though the good folks at National Organization for Marriage forgot to give her...any...talking points. When Sustren asks her how she feels about civil unions and adoption, Prejean restates that shes only here to lend her support to traditional marriage and knows nothing about and has no opinion on civil unions or gay adoption. If shes passionate enough to get in bed with NOM, you think she'd be passionate enough to form an opinion or two.

So then I stopped feeling bad for Carrie Prejean. It all works into this Christian conservative martyr-complex I've talked about before. As society slowly progresses towards equality, Christian conservatives are getting left behind. Focus on the Family does not have Obama's ear the way they did Bush's or Reagan's, the time for evangelical politics is over and they cannot stand being left out. So they use their religious identification to claim that the big bad liberal bogeyman is prejudice against them. Instead of owning up to the way their "religious" beliefs discriminate and attempt to take liberties away from fellow citizens, they claim that same-sex activists and couples are attempting to take their liberties away. Last time I checked, being a homophobe wasn't constitutionally protected.

Here is an ad from National Organization for Marriage, Prejean's newest sponsor, that illustrates my point EXACTLY:

NOM is piggy-backing on Prejean's pretty face, insta-celebrity and ignorance of politics/political issues to push their own nefarious agenda. NOM even advises supporters to avoid using the phrase "ban same-sex marriage" and instead to say that they oppose "redefining marriage." By doing this, they attempt to turn the whole discussion around. It is no longer about equality or gay rights, its about their right to protect themselves against the big bad gay who wants to take their precious definition away from them. Its a homophobic wolf in a slaughtered sheep's clothing, or perhaps in NOM and Carrie Prejean's case, in one pair of pink panties.