The 2009 Miss America contest was held tonight. You might remember this franchise from such previous fails as Miss America 1984, or, "Dude, where are my nude photos?" Or, Miss Teen USA 2007: Iraq is a what? Well, now we have our next installment of Fail from this esteemed even. Below the jump for details.
So the finals were held tonight,and the contest came down to two contestants: Kristen Dalton for North Carolina, and Carrie Prejean from California. After getting through the swimsuit and evening gown competitions, we come to the Q and A. As the aformentioned Miss Teen contestant found out, looking good in a swimsuit can't make up for a disaster of an answer in this portion of the contest.
So Miss California steps to the podium, where she answers a question from judge Perez Hilton(!), who asks a question on gay marriage. Let's go to the internets for the response!
Yahoo with the goods:
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!"
How clever, Ms. Koonce. I expect this will become the next YouTube sensation fairly quickly.