Editor's note: This commentary first appeared April 22 on The New York Times' "Room for Debate" blog.
Those who lean to the left ideologically like to paint those of us on the other side as the “intolerant” ones. But some of them are going to have a hard time whitewashing the intolerance they’ve shown to Carrie Prejean since she said during the weekend pageant that she believes marriage should be defined as solely the union of one man and one woman.
The celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton — the pageant judge who asked her what she thought about gay "marriage" — called her names unprintable here and said he would have “snatched the tiara” off her head had she been crowned Miss USA on Sunday. He blasted her for bringing her “political and religious views” onto the stage — an odd complaint considering he’s the one who posed a political question.
If Carrie Prejean were in favor of gay "marriage," she’d actually be in the minority of Americans.
He also said Miss USA ought to be someone who represents all the people and views of America — and that personally opposing gay "marriage" disqualifies her on that measure. What Hilton doesn’t seem to grasp is that if she were in favor of gay "marriage," her views still wouldn’t “represent all Americans.” In fact, were Prejean a gay "marriage" supporter, she’d actually be in the minority of citizens in our nation, if you believe scores of polls and the voters in 30 states (including more than 7 million in her home state of California) who have passed laws or constitutional amendments to protect the natural definition of marriage.
The reality is, what Hilton is asking is not realistic. We don’t expect our president to “represent all Americans.” More than 58 million people did not vote for Barack Obama: does that make Hilton want to go snatch the presidential seal off his podium? Of course not. What Hilton and many other of Prejean’s attackers really mean is that they’d prefer people not bring their political and ideological convictions into the public square unless they align with the political and ideological convictions of Hilton et al.
Does that sound even remotely like American ideals?
What has happened to Prejean over the past few days is nothing short of religious persecution. No, it is not violent persecution — but that does not minimize its existence or its danger. She is being pilloried in the public square for deigning to answer a question guided, as she told the “Today” show, not by “political correctness but by biblical correctness.”
Doing so, most agree, cost her her dream of being Miss USA. If the U.S.A. embraces Hilton’s actions and logic as acceptable, it will cost our nation much more.
TAKE ACTION
You can join the discussion at The New York Times Web site. Just scroll to the bottom of the page until you see "Add your comments."
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Watch the Focus Action Update, where Stuart Shepard and Tom Minnery discuss how Perez Hilton turned the spotlight on the intolerance of gay activists.
Read more about Carrie Prejean’s story.
Watch a special Turn Signal video report on the pageant.
To send Carrie Prejean a message on Facebook, just type her name into the search box.
(NOTE: Referral to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.)
