Miss Universe Supports Gay Marriage

Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza was asked the question that got the most recent Miss USA pageant second-runner up in trouble when she went on The Howard Stern Show Tuesday morning. Instead of Stern's usual "take your top off" requests of beautiful women on his show, he asked Miss Universe about gay marriage. 

Seeming to take pointers from blogger Perez Hilton, Stern asked the reigning Miss Universe whether she would support the legalization of gay marriage. After running around the topic a bit initially, saying that Carrie Prejean has rights to her own opinion, even asking "why should i care" what the Miss USA second-runner up thinks. After she was pressed a little further on the issue, Mendoza noted she has numerous friends in her life that are gay, and that she would like to see them being allowed to spend the remainder of their lives with the people they love. 

Stern even got a solid answer out of her to the pageant question that has recently become overwhelmingly compelling: "Should gay marriage be legal?"

Mendoza's response: “Why not?”

She continued with a joke, saying if there was conflict with her stance on gay marriage and her Miss Universe title, she has only about four weeks in her reign anyhow. 

George Takei, The Howard Stern Show openly gay guest announcer, exclaimed "Bravo!" Takei, aka Star Trek's original Sulu, and his husband were among the 18,000 California couples to marry their partner during the brief time period where same-sex marriages were legal in the state last summer.