Thursday, May 14, 2009
Alternative beauty pageant history
At the risk of having the TigerHawk Teenager and Cassandra suffer concussions from banging their heads against the keyboard, I want to pose this hypothetical:
It is only fifteen years ago, and the year is 1994. Miss Massachusetts, who happens to be from Provincetown, is being asked her question on center stage at the Miss USA pageant. The judge asks, "Your hometown is famous for its unique location at the end of a long and beautiful peninsula, and also for its relatively large gay population. Do you think that the gay residents of Provincetown should be permitted to join in Civil Unions?"
She responds eloquently and in the affirmative, adding that she has many gay friends and that they should be able to have the same rights with respect to health care, estate planning, etc. She does not win but is the first runner-up.
What are the chances that a) the judge who asked her the question goes on TV the next day and calls her a "fag lover," saying he reduced her scores because of the views expressed in her answer; and, b) the infotainment media starts investigating her family background and history to try and learn why Miss Massachusetts has such pro-gay attitudes?
2 Comments:
By 
, at
Fri May 15, 10:42:00 PM:
Someplace between zero and none, I think.
By 
Georg Felis, at
Sat May 16, 06:15:00 PM:
I have problems with the premise here. Most good 80s-90s science fiction stories have a tiny bit of truth in them, like what happens when nuclear bombs are tested off the coast of Tokyo (Godzilla), what if a maintenance man were to be doused in toxic waste (Toxic Avenger), what if a K-Mart employee were swept into the dark mystical past and forced to fight the undead (Evil Dead).
I just can't believe in 1994, a beauty contest judge would ask such a divisive and stupid question. Not unless they were a Senator or something...
