“Miss Beverly Hills Thinks ‘God Wants Gays Put to Death’”

Whatever happened to “I love warm puppies, and I want world peace”? Today’s beauty queens preach Old Testament fire, brimstone, and smiting.

What did Beverly Hills’s Lauren Ashley actually say about gay marriage?
Ashley’s words: “The Bible says that marriage is between a man and a woman. In Leviticus, it says, ‘If man lies with mankind as he would lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death, and their blood shall be upon them.’ The Bible is pretty black and white….I feel like God himself created mankind, and he loves everyone, and he has the best for everyone. If he says that having sex with someone of your same gender is going to bring death upon you, that’s a pretty stern warning, and he knows more than we do about life.”

So, Ashley actually didn’t say she thinks God wants gays put to death, simply that gays will be.

Ashley later professed to have “no hate for anybody,” sharing that she has “a lot of friends that are gay…a lot of friends who have different views, and we share our views together.”

Views that some of them will be put to death?

A similar answer may have cost Miss California, Carrie Prejean, the Miss USA title last year, when she said, “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.”

I do take offense, but concede that Prejean (and Ashley) have a right to voice their opinion, just as I claim the right to state mine.

I have issues with contestants being egged on to give inflammatory answers, as well as with media distortion. Same-sex marriage is an easy target. Gays are still fair game. But just how far are promoters willing to go?

Working in a nursing home in the Deep South, I heard fundamentalist preachers harangue the patients on Sundays, declaring that Jews were going to Hell.

Would stating that opinion win a beauty queen her tiara? When does Freedom of Speech become crying “Fire!” in a crowded theater?

Note: Beverly Hills does not sponsor a beauty pageant. Ashley lives in Pasadena. Beverly Hills Mayor Nancy Krasne stated, “We are dismayed by any potential association with the City of Beverly Hills, which has a long history of tolerance and respect.”