The new Miss California, who stepped in after the sacking of Carrie Prejean, has revealed that she too believes marriage should be between a man and a woman.
Tami Farrell, who was runner-up in the competition held earlier this year, affirmed her opinion during an interview with Fox News.
She was reminded of Miss Prejean’s view that “a marriage is between a man and a woman” and asked: “Do you share that view?”
Miss Farrell said that she did.
However, she added: “I don’t think that I have the right or anybody has a right to tell somebody who they can or can’t love.
“And I think that this is a civil rights issue. And I think that the right thing to do is let the voters decide.”
When a referendum was held on the issue last year, the majority of Californians voted to amend the state constitution with the wording: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California”.
The Supreme Court upheld the voters’ decision last month.
However, when Carrie Prejean answered a question about gay marriage posed by an openly homosexual judge at the Miss USA pageant earlier this year, she lost out on the title and was attacked in the media.
The judge involved, Perez Hilton, said: “She lost it because of that question. She was definitely the front-runner before that.”
He also said Miss Prejean has ‘half a brain’ and that he would have stormed onto the stage and ripped off her tiara if she had won.
In the UK, commenting on the story as a panelist on the BBC satirical news show Have I Got News For You, senior Conservative Party MP Alan Duncan joked: “If you read that Miss California has been murdered, you will know it was me, won’t you?”
Last week Miss Prejean was released from her Miss California contract after pageant officials said she had missed engagements. Miss Prejean denies breaking the terms of her contract.