Miss California Carrie Prejean speaks up

Miss California Carrie Prejean spoke to FOXNews.com and said that she has "no regrets" and is happy with the answer she gave.

Miss California's answer sparked a shouting match in the lobby after the show. "It's ugly," said Scott Ihrig, a gay man, who attended the pageant with his partner. "I think it's ridiculous that she got first runner-up. That is not the value of 95 percent of the people in this audience. Look around this audience and tell me how many gay men there are."

Charmaine Koonce, the mother of Miss New Mexico USA Bianca Matamoros-Koonce, argued back using a Christian magazine motto,

"In the Bible it says marriage is between Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!"

The pageant had enjoyed a scandal-free year until earlier this month, when Miss Universe 2008 Dayana Mendoza was skewered for a blog posting from a trip to Guantanamo Bay. The entry described having "aloooot of fun" at a base that houses the notorious military prison; it was later deleted from the pageant's Web site.

The winner, Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton, a 22-year-old aspiring motivational speaker and entertainer from Wilmington, edged out first runner-up Miss California, and second runner-up Miss Arizona USA Alicia-Monique Blanco, of Phoenix.

"It feels really natural," Dalton said of her win. "I've worked so be here and this has been my lifelong dream and it's finally here. And whoever knew you could win in a turquoise gown?"

Remembering Maggie Gallagher’s column about same sex marriage

Here are some of the things that she discussed in a column in a christian magazine in 2003 that still rings true today.

A new marriage movement--a distinctively American phenomenon--has been born.

“The scholarly consensus on the importance of marriage has broadened and deepened; it is now the conventional wisdom among child welfare organizations. As a Child Trends research brief summed up: "Research clearly demonstrates that family structure matters for children, and the family structure that helps children the most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage. Children in single-parent families, children born to unmarried mothers, and children in stepfamilies or cohabiting relationships face higher risks of poor outcomes. . . . There is thus value for children in promoting strong, stable marriages between biological parents."

What will court-imposed gay marriage do to this incipient recovery of marriage?
“For, even as support for marriage in general has been rising, the gay marriage debate has proceeded on a separate track. Now the time has come to decide: Will unisex marriage help or hurt marriage as a social institution?”

Why should it do either, some may ask? How can Bill and Bob's marriage hurt Mary and Joe?
In an exchange with me in the just-released book "Marriage and Same Sex Unions: A Debate," Evan Wolfson, chief legal strategist for same-sex marriage in the Hawaii case, Baer v. Lewin, argues there is "enough marriage to share." What counts, he says, "is not family structure, but the quality of dedication, commitment, self-sacrifice, and love in the household."

If family structure does not count. Then what is marriage for?
Why have laws about it? Why care whether people get married or stay married? Do children need mothers and fathers, or will any sort of family do? When the sexual desires of adults clash with the interests of children, which carries more weight, socially and legally?

Lauren Conrad - finally

It is finally confirmed that Lauren Conrad isn't returning to The Hills.

Reports from the New York Post said that Conrad, 23, has been working out a contract to re-appear on the show after "She kind of realized, especially in this economy, there's not much else out there for her. What else can she do that would earn as much?"

However, her rep tells Usmagazine.com, "She is focusing on both clothing lines and her books. She has no plans to return to The Hills at this time."

Last week while reading a book by William Paul Young, I saw MTV announce that the show will return in the fall with more episodes of season 5. The press release issued that "Lauren has moved on, but Heidi, Audrina, Spencer, Brody, Stephanie, Lo and Justin Bobby will be back as the drama continues with fresh faces, new stories and shocking surprises,"

Heidi Montag, her co-star even told a christian magazine as well as MTV News that she'd "miss" Conrad -- but not too much.

"I just don't know if we need her," she said. "I know she hasn't been wanting to be doing this for a while, and [the life she really leads] is not on camera. So I think it's a closing chapter for her. I'm sure she'll have fun and success."