In the Miss America Pageant (forgive me for going here, but you'll see my reasoning shortly - whether you agree with it or not, you'll understand my POV) Miss California is quoted as saying,
While many will attack her for her views, I'm going to refrain from doing so. Not because I agree with her - I don't - but because she has a right to her POV. What she does NOT have the right to do is misrepresent the reality that we, as Gay and Lesbian citizens of the United States of America, face every day.
I don't know what land she lives in, but here in Washington State, I do NOT have that option. Recently, our Legislature passed the "Everything But Marriage" law, granting residents of the Evergreen State every protection and responsibility of marriage, all of it without using the word "Marriage". While that is a step in the right direction, there are many states, including the Republic of California that do not grant those rights and responsibilities to their Gay and Lesbian citizens. Her statement is, if not an out and out lie, then at the very least it is a gross misrepresentation of the reality in the land in which she lives. If she is referring to the United States as a whole, she is also incorrect in her statement. To date, only the States of Vermont, Iowa, Connecticut and Massachusettes grant marriages to all of their citizens, regardless of sexual orientation (I do not include gays and lesbians in opposite-gender, "one man and one woman" marriages, because I don't view those as honest relationships. If they could, they would also be in same-gender relationships).
Politics do not belong in the Miss America pageant, that is correct. Perez Hilton should have remembered that bit before asking her this question. If you don't want to politicize the pageant, then don't ask the contestants political questions; however, if you do, then be prepared for their honest responses. I applaud her for expressing her viewpoint when asked; on the other hand I also castigate her for not knowing what the Hell she was talking about. You can't praise a country for values and morals that it does not espouse - or that when it does "Freedom and Justice for All" - that it does not follow through on it's promise. She felt free to express her POV, but she also was afraid of saying anything that reflected poorly on the USA, a country she hoped to represent by winning the Miss America Pageant. In that, she showed cowardice; she could just as easily have said that while she personally disagreed with same-gender marriages, the nation as a whole has a responsibility to have equal access under the law for all of it's citizens. She failed in that, and so I am glad that she did not win that crown. I am disappointed in the pageant judges that she did get so far as to win First Runner-Up, but honestly, that is the USA that we live in.
It's not a Perfect Union; but after the news around the country over the past couple of weeks, I am certain that eventually we will get it right. We have a history of injustices: slavery, women's sufferage, immigrant rights, Native displacements and outright thievery. However, what makes the USA different from any other nation in the world is that we, the citizens of the USA, do not sit idly by and let our country become something that we are embarrassed of, but rather strive to rectify our mistakes and truly be "A Light unto the Nations".
“We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. 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.”
While many will attack her for her views, I'm going to refrain from doing so. Not because I agree with her - I don't - but because she has a right to her POV. What she does NOT have the right to do is misrepresent the reality that we, as Gay and Lesbian citizens of the United States of America, face every day.
“We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite."
I don't know what land she lives in, but here in Washington State, I do NOT have that option. Recently, our Legislature passed the "Everything But Marriage" law, granting residents of the Evergreen State every protection and responsibility of marriage, all of it without using the word "Marriage". While that is a step in the right direction, there are many states, including the Republic of California that do not grant those rights and responsibilities to their Gay and Lesbian citizens. Her statement is, if not an out and out lie, then at the very least it is a gross misrepresentation of the reality in the land in which she lives. If she is referring to the United States as a whole, she is also incorrect in her statement. To date, only the States of Vermont, Iowa, Connecticut and Massachusettes grant marriages to all of their citizens, regardless of sexual orientation (I do not include gays and lesbians in opposite-gender, "one man and one woman" marriages, because I don't view those as honest relationships. If they could, they would also be in same-gender relationships).
Politics do not belong in the Miss America pageant, that is correct. Perez Hilton should have remembered that bit before asking her this question. If you don't want to politicize the pageant, then don't ask the contestants political questions; however, if you do, then be prepared for their honest responses. I applaud her for expressing her viewpoint when asked; on the other hand I also castigate her for not knowing what the Hell she was talking about. You can't praise a country for values and morals that it does not espouse - or that when it does "Freedom and Justice for All" - that it does not follow through on it's promise. She felt free to express her POV, but she also was afraid of saying anything that reflected poorly on the USA, a country she hoped to represent by winning the Miss America Pageant. In that, she showed cowardice; she could just as easily have said that while she personally disagreed with same-gender marriages, the nation as a whole has a responsibility to have equal access under the law for all of it's citizens. She failed in that, and so I am glad that she did not win that crown. I am disappointed in the pageant judges that she did get so far as to win First Runner-Up, but honestly, that is the USA that we live in.
It's not a Perfect Union; but after the news around the country over the past couple of weeks, I am certain that eventually we will get it right. We have a history of injustices: slavery, women's sufferage, immigrant rights, Native displacements and outright thievery. However, what makes the USA different from any other nation in the world is that we, the citizens of the USA, do not sit idly by and let our country become something that we are embarrassed of, but rather strive to rectify our mistakes and truly be "A Light unto the Nations".
Comments