Miss USA, Kirsten dalton, not taking sides in Prejean controversy

The newly crowned Miss USA Kristen Dalton is not taking anybody's sides in the controversy surrounding runner-up Carrie Prejean's anti-gay marriage comments. Prejean's response to the question by judge Perez Hilton, an openly gay gossip blogger, led to a huge furore, with many arguing that the answer cost Prejean the crown.

But, the crown-wining beauty Dalton is in no mood to adding more fuel to the fire and is thus being diplomatic. "Carrie is obviously very passionate about her beliefs," The New York Daily News quoted Dalton as saying at City Harvest's 'Practical Magic' event.

She added: "I respect her as an American, a fellow competitor and her friend. "Although I'm her friend, I don't want to defend her to her detractors because that's their right as well. They feel really strongly about their opinion for pro-gay rights, and that's great."

California's Carrie Prejean Joins Movement Against Gay Marriage

When Miss California appeared Friday night on CNN (above), she insisted she wasn't a poster girl for the movement against gay marriage—just a beauty pageant contestant answering a tough question.

But U.S. News Whisperer Paul Bedard reports that Carrie Prejean has now officially joined the movement. She's coming to D.C. tomorrow to unveil a new ad by the National Organization for Marriage that focuses on her Miss USA experience.

The National Organization for Marriage describes the ad this way:

No Offense," the next ad in NOM's $1.5 million national ad campaign, will be previewed for the media. What happens when a young California beauty pageant contestant is asked "do you support same-sex marriage?" She is attacked viciously for having the courage to speak up for her truth and her values. But Carrie's courage inspired a whole nation and a whole generation of young people because she chose to risk the Miss USA crown rather than be silent about her deepest moral values. "No Offense" calls gay marriage advocates to account for their unwillingness to debate the real issue: gay marriage has consequences.