Making the right decision can be costly

Miss California Carrie Prejean expressed an opinion during the April 19 Miss USA contest based on her Christian faith, and it probably cost her a beauty pageant crown, endorsements, fame and fortune.

Prejean, a student at San Diego Christian College, said she saw the question from contest judge Perez Hilton about whether every state should legalize same-sex marriage as a test of her faith.

Prejean replied that she is opposed to gay marriage, and her answer may have cost her the crown. She finished second to Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton.

“She lost it because of that question,” Hilton said the following Monday. “She was definitely the front-runner before that.”

Hilton, who is gay, said he gave Prejean a zero for her answer, and that may have made the difference in the outcome.

This year, California voters passed Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in the state.

But it wasn’t the fact, I believe, that she finished second for expressing her political belief in support of Proposition 8. It was because she chose to express a bedrock conviction based on her faith.

Why else would Hilton have ever asked Prejean the question?

“Out of all the topics I studied up on, I dreaded that one. I prayed I would not be asked about gay marriage. If I had any other question, I know I would have won,” Prejean told FOXNews.com.

But dear readers, take note — when she answered the question, it was with a conviction that rivaled the courage of David before Goliath, Daniel in the lion’s den and Jesus before Pilate.

In other words, she didn’t flinch or hem-haw around knowing what it would cost. She knew the liberal media would pick this thing up and run with it around the world — castigating her simply for expressing an opinion.

She exercised her First Amendment right of freedom of expression, which Hilton also has a right to do in expressing his opinion as a homosexual and supporter of gay rights. That’s the beauty of our Constitution — everyone has a say whether we agree with it or not.

When I wrote for the College Heights-Herald newspaper at Western Kentucky University, one of the first events I covered on campus was the “Coming Out Day Celebration” — a day when homosexuals and lesbians proclaim to the world that they are gay.

One young lady, a very vocal member of the group, flinched when I asked if her parents knew she was a lesbian.

“No,” she said, looking off into the distance. “My dad is a Pentecostal preacher in eastern Kentucky and he wouldn’t understand.”

I understood her hesitation and fear in “coming out” to everyone but her parents. Her decision to “come out” may ultimately cost her her family.

The decisions we make have the potential to be costly. But in this instance, Miss California got it right — and God bless her.

Larry Rowell is a columnist for the Casey County News in Liberty, Ky.