SAN FRANCISCO — The directors of the Miss California USA pageant are looking into whether title holder Carrie Prejean violated her contract by working with a national group opposed to gay marriage and by posing semi-nude when she was a teenage model.
Pageant spokesman Roger Neal said Tuesday that it appears Prejean has run afoul of several sections of the contract that prospective contestants were required to sign.
The detailed document prohibits the titular Miss California from making personal appearances, giving interviews or making commercials without permission from pageant officials. In the last 10 days, Prejean has made televised appearances on behalf of the National Organization for Marriage, a group opposed to same-sex marriage.
The contact also contains a clause asking participants to say whether they have conducted themselves “in accordance with the highest ethical and moral standards.” As an example, it asks if they have ever been photographed nude or partially nude.
A photo of Prejean wearing only pink panties with her back turned to the camera appeared Monday on the gossip blog theDirty.com. She issued a statement early Tuesday saying she posed for the shot while as a 17-year-old model and objecting to its release as an attempt to belittle her Christian faith.
Prejean, a San Diego native who attends San Diego Christian College, was named the first runner-up to Miss North Carolina in the Miss USA pageant April 19. Her response to a question about legalizing same-sex marriage, and subsequent statements that her answer favoring limiting marriage to a man and a woman may have cost her the title, have made her a media sensation.
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