HispanicBusiness

With its sagging ratings, the Miss USA contest sure could use a heated controversy, and it got a flaming one on Sunday, when one of the judges -- blogging sensation Perez Hilton -- blasted Miss California for her answer to his question on gay marriage. Hilton, who is gay and whose blog this year climbed to No. 1 on Forbes Magazine's annual list of brightest Web stars, asked Miss California -- Carrie Prejean of San Diego -- the following question. "Vermont recently became the 4th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit. Why or why not?" Prejean's answer: "Well, I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, 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 and that's how I think it should be between a man and a woman. Thank you very much." Prejean wound up taking runner up to Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton, leading Fox News to ask its Web readers to "decide" if her answer cost her the crown. More noteworthy, perhaps, was the video rant that Hilton posted on his blog immediately after the show. "She lost not because she doesn't believe in gay marriage. Miss California lost because she is a dumb b**ch," he said. "She got booed. I think that was the first time in Miss U.S.A. ever a contestant has been booed." He added: "She gave an awful, awful answer which alienated so many people." Hilton later apologized for the invective, and invited Prejean out for coffee. The Miss USA competition differs from the Miss America pageant in how the former includes no talent section. Over the years the show's ratings have plummeted from its peak of 20 million during the 1980s to 7 million in 2001. As the winner of the Miss USA Pageant, Dalton will move on to the Miss Universe competition.