The National Organization for Marriage
(NOM) has quietly distanced itself from former Miss California Carrie
Prejean.
Over the weekend, the group altered the
front
page of its website, removing a prominent reference to a video
the group created that features Prejean.
Prejean's quick ascent into Christian
celebrity came after the 22-year-old denounced gay marriage because
of her religious upbringing during the Miss USA contest in April.
She said she lost the contest because of her answer, giving fodder to
the conservative argument that supporters of gay marriage punish
Christian opponents.
In its opposition to gay marriage, NOM
has vehemently argued that gay marriage has consequences, including
teaching young schoolchildren about being gay and silencing Christian
voices.
The video No
Offense makes the case for the second point. It claims
Prejean was denied the Miss USA crown because of her Christian
beliefs. A June press release by the group said Prejean “chose
truth over the glittering tiara that Hollywood offers.” “Of
course, they will try to punish her, but we know she will be fine in
the end, because her values are in the right place,” said Brian
Brown, executive director of NOM.
The heightened visibility made her the
golden girl of social conservatives. In September, speaking at the
Value Voters Summit, she told a conservative audience that she was
chosen by God to oppose gay marriage. Reflecting on the controversy,
Prejean said, “I'm so proud of the answer that I gave. God chose
me for that moment.”
Prejean also took the extraordinary
step of suing pageant organizers, claiming religious discrimination
and libel after she was fired.
But after admitting she had filmed a
secret sex tape when she was a minor, Prejean dropped her lawsuit.
She told Fox News: “It was me by myself. There was no one
else with me. I was not having sex.”
But the controversy has clearly
tarnished her conservative Christian credentials, especially after
allegations surfaced that Prejean had filmed as many as 20 sex tapes
for a former boyfriend she met on the Internet.
“What happened to 'the future of our
movement, and the future of America' as you referred to Carrie just
two months ago?” Fred Karger, founder of Californians
Against Hate, a group that supports gay marriage, asked
rhetorically in an email. “Was it because she lied again?”
Prejean was scheduled to speak at the
Defenders of the Family, a fundraiser for the anti-gay group New
Jersey Family Policy Council, on November 6, but was mysteriously
removed from the event just one day prior. A speech at the
Conservative Capital Hill Club was also nixed.