Miss USA Kristen Dalton Talks Gay Marriage Equality on 'Today'

The winner of the 2009 Miss USA Competition, Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton, showed off her crown and poise on the Today Show.

She artfully answered questions about Miss California's question and the uproar that followed. Dalton told Al Rocker, "Although I respect her opinion, you know, as Americans, the beauty of America is that we all have a right to our own opinion. I'm proud of [Miss California] for speaking from her heart, and she's passionate and what she believes in, and she's proud of herself."

But, Dalton agreed Perez Hilton’s question that provoked Miss California’s now infamous response was fair given the social and political reality of our times. Dalton exclaimed it was “absolutely a fair question. It's a social issue that surrounds us every day that I think citizens should be aware of. As a state representative, I think we should be prepared to answer it."

Rocker even asked the freshly crowned winner what would have been her response to the question, and Dalton thoughtfully answered, "The beautiful thing about America is that we have the right to choose, we have the right to choose what partner we want to love, commit and spend the rest of our lives with. I think that all couples should be able to be recognized legally, and they should be able to enter into a union. Whether or not it should be defined as marriage, I don't know, I'll leave that up to the politicians." 

Check out the full interview here.

In other news... Perez Hilton reports down south things are still 'bass ackwards'.

Alabama, Republican state representative Jay Love has drafted a resolution praising Miss California, Carrie Prejean, for standing by her beliefs in inequality...

Democratic State Representative Alvin Holmes, however, said, "I am not for the Alabama Legislature honoring her in any kind of way."