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Miss New York takes risk with gay rights platform in Miss America pageant, wants to see 'change'
New York Daily News ^ | Friday, January 7th 2011 | Gina Salamone

Posted on 01/07/2011 9:35:19 AM PST by presidio9

Leave it to a New Yorker to shake things up at the Miss America Pageant.

Instead of sticking to something safe, Miss New York Claire Buffie will be championing gay rights as part of her campaign to become the next Miss America.

Never in the 90-year history of the pageant has a contestant gone to bat for gays. And the 24-year-old brunette knows she's taking a risk with her "Straight for Equality: Let's Talk" platform.

But this, she says, is the civil rights struggle of her generation.

"Miss America is looking for a woman who is intelligent, has a vision and is compassionate about making change," she told the Daily News.

Born and raised in Indiana, Buffie was second runnerup in the Miss Indiana 2008 contest before she pulled up stakes and moved to lower Manhattan - and set her sights on becoming Miss New York.

In doing so, Buffie found her cause.

"The reason I am such a vocal straight ally is because my older sister, Sarah, is gay, and I have a lot of gay friends and a gay roommate," she said.

They, she said, are "people that I care about so much and that I never want to see treated as second-class citizens."

High-profile suicides of some gay teens last year also fueled her cause.

"That proves to me that this is not something that we can brush under the rug anymore," Buffie said.

To give the beauty pageant more heft, Miss America organizers began requiring contestants in 1989 to come up with a social platform.

Most opt for causes that are worthy - and noncontroversial.

This year, for example, Miss New Jersey is running on "Read to Succeed" and Miss Connecticut is going with "One World: Global Awareness for Global Prosperity."

Not Buffie. When the show airs live from Las Vegas on Jan. 15, she's going for broke.

"It's groundbreaking in a way since it's the first in the Miss America organization," she said. "But also it's just so current."

Mindful that she also has to do well in the swimsuit part of the competition, Buffie said she gets in shape the way many New Yorkers do.

"I run the Brooklyn Bridge all the time," she said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; US: New York
KEYWORDS: beautypageants; homosexualagenda; missnewyork
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To: presidio9

I could never be friends with a homo/lesbo because they are immoral/amoral.I cannot be friends with someone who sleeps around,especially a fag.


61 posted on 01/07/2011 1:38:02 PM PST by POWERSBOOTHEFAN (Fear can hold you prisoner.Hope can set you free.(Shawshank Redemption))
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To: presidio9

Sarcasm?


62 posted on 01/07/2011 2:45:39 PM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: little jeremiah
A quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was executed by the Nazis for opposing them:

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

***************************

What an amazing statement.

What a tragedy that his voice was silenced forever.

63 posted on 01/07/2011 2:47:59 PM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: B Knotts
Maybe not trying to flatter them, but preemptively avoiding getting ambushed by a "gay rights" question that has done in multiple contestants and looking for a few bonus points from gay judges in some of the more subjective scores.

Playing to the audience.

64 posted on 01/07/2011 2:55:40 PM PST by 5thGenTexan
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To: fwdude

IIRC it was Jerry who said that.


65 posted on 01/07/2011 3:23:39 PM PST by MHGinTN (Some, believing they can't be deceived, it's nigh impossible to convince them when they're deceived.)
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To: trisham
We still hear the echo - speaking to each of us - I'd use it for a tagline if I could.

Prayers for his soul.

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

66 posted on 01/07/2011 3:48:07 PM PST by little jeremiah (Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. CSLewis)
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To: MHGinTN

It’s usually Jerry who comes up with these catchy appelations. Like the “sideler” or “close-talker” or the “anti-dentite.” No, that was Kramer.


67 posted on 01/07/2011 3:49:07 PM PST by fwdude (Anita Bryant was right.)
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To: presidio9
Okay. Leave aside her homo-promo views, she is NOT very pretty. Maybe some makeup will help.

Now, that I've got that out of the way, I want to address this ridiculous statement by this ... female:

They, she said, are "people that I care about so much and that I never want to see treated as second-class citizens."

I realize many are tired of hearing about slavery, segregation and the sad history of this country's treatment of Blacks, but, as a Black person, I'm getting real tired of airheads like this, trying to lump homosexuals and their ilk with the civil-rights movement, AS IF they are similar.

There is no similarity! NONE! There are no "Homosexual Only" signs, water fountains, restaurants, etc. Homosexuals are NOT being denied the right to vote, to keep and bear arms, stripped of free speech rights ... to the point, there isn't a single CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT that they are being denied, NOT IN THE SAME MANNER that Blacks were denied.

She probably trying to give herself a boost towards winning Miss America by making this stupid pronouncement because she isn't very pretty. Needs all the help she can get.

68 posted on 01/07/2011 7:06:52 PM PST by Sister_T ("Calling ILLEGAL aliens "immigrants" is like calling shoplifters 'customers'!"-UCFRoadWarrior ><>)
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To: All
They, she said, are "people that I care about so much and that I never want to see treated as second-class citizens."

I realize many are tired of hearing about slavery, segregation and the sad history of this country's treatment of Blacks, but, as a Black person, I'm getting real tired of airheads like this, trying to lump homosexuals and their ilk with the civil-rights movement, AS IF they are similar.

There is no similarity! NONE! There are no "Homosexual Only" signs, water fountains, restaurants, etc. Homosexuals are NOT being denied the right to vote, to keep and bear arms, stripped of free speech rights ... to the point, there isn't a single CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT that they are being denied, NOT IN THE SAME MANNER that Blacks were denied.

She probably trying to give herself a boost towards winning Miss America by making this stupid pronouncement because she isn't very pretty. Needs all the help she can get.

69 posted on 01/07/2011 7:07:55 PM PST by Sister_T ("Calling ILLEGAL aliens "immigrants" is like calling shoplifters 'customers'!"-UCFRoadWarrior ><>)
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