04/22/2009
Perez Hilton vs Dennis Prager on Marriage Equality
Larry King hosted Perez Hilton and Dennis Prager for a debate on marriage equality as a follow-up to the Miss USA brouhaha that erupted after she lost her crown because of her answer to a question from Perez about same-sex marriage. Prager is a conservative radio host.
Matt Rettenmund at Boy Culture has an excellent post up on the reactions to Perez' question and his subsequent efforts to draw out the conversation. Whatever opinion you may have of Perez, he was able yesterday to elicit statements of support for same-sex marriage out of Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, and Heidi Montag. While those celebrities may not mean so much to some, their statements of support certainly help to build support in undecided (Christian and younger) spheres.
Watch the Larry King segment, AFTER THE JUMP...
Posted 8:00 AM EST by Andy Towle in Gay Marriage, Larry King, News | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Used to not like him at all for his catty ways, but am more and more impressed with this guy as time goes on. Maybe he's finally growing up.
Posted by: johnny | Apr 22, 2009 8:11:11 AM
You have GOT to be kidding. The idea that Perez Hilton is a spokesman/representative for the rest of us is absolutely repugnant.
Posted by: MT | Apr 22, 2009 8:16:05 AM
I think Perez actually sounded intelligent in the Larry King clip. In my opinion he won that debate with Dennis Prager.
Posted by: Darren | Apr 22, 2009 8:29:30 AM
If he can change one person's opinion on gay marriage then he's done his job. Maybe he could even change the mind of Obama who shares the same views as Miss California.
Posted by: AS13 | Apr 22, 2009 8:38:54 AM
You know...I have to admit that I am quite impressed with Perez's ability to turn the point on Prager...like when he asked him if he wante to hurt american families. Simultaneously, he also let Prager dominate the debate. The last 1 minute of the video are just a platform for Prager to talk about boys in girl scouts (ps: that would be awesome, and how allegedly compassionate he is.
-I give Perez points for being an articulate advocate, but I don't think he's the most effective spokesman.
Posted by: OMGYAWU | Apr 22, 2009 8:39:23 AM
I looks like I have to change my mind about Perez. He's out there doing good and I appreciate his efforts.
Posted by: SAM | Apr 22, 2009 8:54:44 AM
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand this is PRECISELY why we needed the media to drop the Miss USA thing. This fucking pig is in no position to represent. If you think anybody really cares what BRITNEY SPEARS and HEIDI MONTAG think about gay marriage, whether young, old, Christian, or not, you're out of your fucking mind. How some of you guys can rip apart every single gay on here and then defend this self-serving pig I have no fucking idea. I have no doubt he has good intentions and really believes in marriage equality, but you know, so do I, and I sure wouldn't want my catty ass representing the movement. Shove an apple in his mouth and throw him on the spit, where this minstrel show porker belongs.
Posted by: Ugh | Apr 22, 2009 9:27:00 AM
All Perez cares about is getting himself on camera, if he cared about gay issues where the fuck was he before this all started? He is a publicity whore.
Posted by: patrick nyc | Apr 22, 2009 9:34:24 AM
The fact that perez called miss carlifonia all sorts of names made him the bigger fool. He is obviously older than that girl and he is the one calling her the b words and the c words. You know miss USA could have also chosen to dropped the f word but she didn't. Perez sucks!, He does not represent me! His reaction to the girls answer was hands down juvenile!
Posted by: doro | Apr 22, 2009 9:34:33 AM
I can see how he may not be the most effective spokesman ever, but really, I can't see how it helps to deem people not worthy to represent the cause. surely he deserves some credit to keeping this issue in the news. He probably is arrogant, stupid and not the best possible person to talk about the issue but i would rather have him talk about it than not. the same is true for miley et.al. - I appreciate that they support the cause, period. before long we'll have auditions on who's worthy to speak in our favor in public.
Posted by: Andreas | Apr 22, 2009 9:36:53 AM
Hilton is a stupid drama queen. His reaction to miss CA's answer upgraded Miss CA to unimaginable levels. He affirmed the steriotype that us gay men are just namecalling 'girls'. He really pissed me off when He called her the B word.
Posted by: steve | Apr 22, 2009 9:41:20 AM
Much as it pains me to say this, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and (shudder) Heidi Montag are not exactly suffering from minuscule audiences and rock-bottom ratings. Their viewers and listeners will become voters very soon and their opinions are shaped by the people they admire--whether we like them or not.
As for Perez, there are times when he makes me cringe, but:
a) he's out, unlike 99% of gay on-camera Hollywood;
b) he represents only himself, and speaks to young people more effectively than, say, Dennis Praeger or Miss California;
c) he's no more and no less a tireless self-promoter than just about anyone you see in People or Us Weekly or whatever;
d)at least he's not Chris Crocker or Bobby Trendy.
Posted by: David D. | Apr 22, 2009 9:43:27 AM
OMG! WE NEED A MLK OF THE GAY COMMUNITY. PEREZ HILTON DOES NOT CAME CLOSE. THIS GUY ANNOYS ME ON EVERY LEVEL. SERIOUSLY
Posted by: jose | Apr 22, 2009 9:46:44 AM
the impact of having young female celebrities like Britney, Miley and Heidi is the influence these have on their young fans.
Many of their young fans are females and in 10 years these fans will have children of their own. Would these fans later on deny their kids the right to marry who they want?
Changing public opinion doesn't happen overnight. The fight for equal marriage has to be fought on all angles : intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and personal. Any support even from young female celebrities is a step in the right direction.
Posted by: dino | Apr 22, 2009 9:52:06 AM
My estimation of Perez Hilton just went way up.
I think he did win the debate, and he got Preager to say we deserve equal rights three times!
Posted by: Chris | Apr 22, 2009 9:52:29 AM
I appreciate support and advocacy from any source, but I have to say that Perez Hilton speaking for the whole gay community on a hot button public policy issue on a national forum fills me with a stomach-churning unease. I'll keep my fingers crosses that this doesn't cut the wrong way. Stating that opposition to gay marriage cost that(dumb blonde bible-thumping bitch) Miss California the title plays to the fundie claims of faith and free speech being sacrificed to an anti-family, radical gay agenda. While Far Right bigots are going to play that card whatever we do, there are millions of the merely ignorant to consider as well.
Posted by: Clay | Apr 22, 2009 9:55:46 AM
You know, somebody can like Britney Spears and Heidi Montag but not believe everything they do. Does that mean they'll all grow up to be Republicans and get boob jobs like Heidi, or wear trucker hats and eschew education in favor of gas station bathroom adventuring like Britney? Um, no. Kids learn these kinds of values from their parents, churches, and communities, not from watching Hannah Montana. Besides, unless all 3 of them start talking about marriage equality non-stop, none of their 10-year-old fans are gonna have a clue where they stand on the issue. I've been a fan of Britney since day 1 and this is the first I've ever heard anything from her regarding the issue. So, yeah, you guys who think Perez Hilton, Britney, Heidi, and Miley are the saviors of marriage equality need a fucking clue.
Posted by: Ugh | Apr 22, 2009 9:56:01 AM
Dennis Prager did a poor job making his argument. His Boy Scout/Girl Scout analogy was stupid and has nothing to do with marriage equality. Both groups are allowed to exist, and neither are having its rights taken away. In fact, the Boy Scouts are legally allowed to discriminate against gay scout leaders.
Also, when he said that you can't separate civil marriage from religious marriage. That is an outright lie. Seven countries and four states have managed to do this. He should know better that to spew such intellectual garbage.
Perez Hilton did a good job holding his own. That being said, I still think he's a fame-seeking whore of a person; and 'no' I don't want him representing the gay community. He is too divisive for such an important task.
Posted by: David in Houston | Apr 22, 2009 10:02:00 AM
While Dennis Prager maybe more articulate he is a clear example of someone who IS NOT ABLE to separate the CIVIL Issue from the RELIGIOUS issue of Marriage!! His argument of drawing the distinction between anti-Miscegenation Laws (which applied to all states except MA) and Gay Marriage was a futile attempt to separate gay marriage and racism as not being the same!! He was forceful and used articulation as his weapons but he fell flat on his face!! Separate but equal does not work any longer and that's precisely what opponents of Gay Marriage are pushing! Why is it we as GLBT Americans can pay our taxes equally with the rest of America but yet still only enjoy limited rights?????? That is what must change!!
Posted by: alex in boston | Apr 22, 2009 10:10:01 AM
I cannot believe all the negativity in regards to Perez being some kind of spoke person. You know what? When I look at the battle for SSM in the states I see a very fragmented front in regards to the gay side and a very unified front with the christian right.
You need people like Perez who have large audiences to talk too, you need people that are recognized, and you need people willing to at least try to lead. If there isn't more unity from the pro-ssm side on this issue then it's going to take a HELL of a lot longer for marriage equality to be achieved in you're country. So put back you're bitchy claws and be happy someone is fighting for your rights.
Posted by: Dan in Canada | Apr 22, 2009 10:20:00 AM
Wow, Mr. Prager would seem to be at the bottom of his bag of tricks. E-Harmony? The Boy Scouts? Really?
At the end of the discussion it seems the man is more upset over Webster's definition of marriage more than anything else (or at least that's what he said). These Neanderthals are running out of arguments.
I'm rather indifferent to Mr. Hilton, but I think he did a great job. The more advocates for marriage equality we have the better.
Posted by: ichabod | Apr 22, 2009 10:40:26 AM
Perez Hilton has done the entire gay community a disservice by not making his point about Miss California's response and letting it go. This continuous immature, vile ranting and name-calling in the national media lowers the standards of the gay marriage discussion to the emotionally charged Rush Limbaugh type of insults we gays have been suffering for centuries. We may dissagree with this woman's beliefs but calling her a bitch and worse before the world has certainly further closed more minds and galvanized people in support of her, where otherwise tomorrow as runnerup she would have been forgotten. This reckless idiot does not represent me. For those who think Hilton won the debate on Larry King, he totally blew it when Prager gave him the classic opening regarding two opposite sex parents being best for children when the majority of US households have either gone through the trauma of divorce or are single parent, yet Prager thinks "we" are incapable of giving a loving home to a child.
Posted by: Craig | Apr 22, 2009 10:49:12 AM
Dennis Prager is the king of sophistry and nothing more.
Posted by: djf | Apr 22, 2009 11:02:30 AM
Way to make us look like idiots, Perez. I know you love the limelight, but stick to VH1, huh?
Posted by: Chris | Apr 22, 2009 11:09:00 AM
Battle of the douche bags!
Posted by: Tralfaz | Apr 22, 2009 11:49:24 AM