Contestant didn't deserve abuse

EDITOR:

The tempest of hatred directed against the remarks of Miss USA beauty pageant contestant, Carrie Prejean, (Miss California); has had the unintended result of bringing to light the fundamental hypocrisy of those opposing the good plan of God concerning gender relations.

Miss Prejean stated: "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."

Miss Prejean's honest answer to a question put to her about same-sex marriage not only cost her the crown of Miss USA, (up to that question she had been the clear front-runner in the competition); but it also subjected her to an almost unbelievable onslaught of character assassination.

After the pageant Sunday night; the Miss USA pageant judge who asked the question, Mr. Perez Hilton, made various malicious and profane comments about Miss Prejean on a YouTube video and on his blog, (PerezHilton.com); and in an interview with a MSNBC female anchor last Tuesday, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klT0aSRTuDQ).

Sadly, instead of condemning these truly hateful comments about a contestant by an official pageant judge, the Miss USA pageant director, Mr. Keith Lewis, sent Mr. Hilton a letter of apology for Miss Prejean's remarks!

For her part, the sum of Miss Prejean's answering comments were generous and decidedly non-hateful:

"I can only say to him that I will be praying for him," she told the Today show on Tuesday morning. "I feel sorry for him, I really do. I think he's angry, I think he's hurt. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. He asked me specifically what my opinion was on that subject, and I gave him an honest answer."

In his remarks to Larry King on CNN's, "Larry King Live," Monday, Mr. Perez stated that he expected Miss USA contestants to be "politically correct," and, "not 'divisive and alienating' to homosexuals and their supporters."

This event and its aftermath have exposed the hypocrisy of the gay rights movement to us all. Mr. Perez Hilton called the honest answer to his question, "divisive and alienating," yet he does not seem to think that making vulgar and disparaging public remarks about a contestant's answer is either 'divisive' or 'alienating.'

I did not watch the Miss USA pageant, but as a California resident, I am honored to be represented by Miss Carrie Prejean. Regardless of the outcome of the contest, for those who still value basic integrity, Miss Prejean has emerged the clear winner.

Charles Evans

Coleville