Did comment about homosexual marriage costs Miss USA contestant the title?

It seems inappropriate to me that such a political question was asked during the contest. The UK Daily Mail has this:

Prejean picked celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who is openly gay and calls himself 'queen of all media'.

Hilton asked her :'Vermont recently became the 4th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit. Why or why not?'

Prejean paused for a moment before replying: 'Well, I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage.'

She continued: 'And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman.

'No offence to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be - between a man and a woman. Thank you very much.'

He went on to describe Prejean as having 'half a brain' and said he would have stormed onto the stage and ripped off her tiara if she had won.

There was speculation that the reply had cost her the Miss USA crown, as she was named runner-up with Miss North Carolina, Kristen Dalton, winning the title. . . . . .

Fox News has this follow up:

FOXNews.com: How are you feeling today?

Carrie Prejean: Honestly, happy. This happened for a reason. By having to answer that question in front of a national audience, God was testing my character and faith. I'm glad I stayed true to myself.

FOXNews.com: Have a lot of people been trying to get in touch with you?

Carrie Prejean: Yes, lots of phone calls. I've gotten over 500 facebook friend requests, hundreds of messages from people I don’t know, saying how proud of me they are that I stood my ground. That made me the real winner of the night.

FOXNews.com: Did your stomach sink when you first heard you picked Perez Hilton's question?

Carrie Prejean: I had a gut feeling. I knew he was controversial, and so was the question. Out of all the topics I studied up on, I dreaded that one, I prayed I would not be asked about gay marriage. If I had any other question, I know I would have won.

FOXNews.com: Did you think right away your answer may have killed your chances of winning?

Carrie Prejean: Yeah, I thought I was going to be 4th runner up for sure. I was surprised I made it to first runner up!

FOXNews.com: Before "the question," did you think you would win Miss USA?

Carrie Prejean: There was a lot of talk about me, people saying I was the frontrunner. During the whole two-week experience leading up to the pageant, I was very confident and relaxed. Not too nervous.

FOXNews.com: Were you sad you didn't win? Did you go to the party afterwards, or go home and cry?

Carrie Prejean: No, I got together with my family. I ate my first hamburger in a long time! . . . .