I imagine most people have heard that Miss California has been causing something of a ruckus lately. I have no problem with beauty pageant contestants answering questions on stage truthfully and based on their beliefs. I may not agree with those beliefs, but if they want to win for who they are and not who they are pretending to be, then truth is necessary. But the latest news on the poor dear is a little different.

I am familiar with the pageant world and with the associated contracts and legal forms. Personal appearances of any kind not sanctioned by the pageant organization are forbidden. Once you win, your image, your voice, and your very being belongs to the organization for use only as they see fit. It’s in the contract she signed.

Even more bothersome about this Miss California is the nude and semi-nude photos of her “modeling” that have come out now. Like her opinions on marriage, I couldn’t care less if she ever posed nude, but before they even let a person into a pageant, they ask quite specifically and point blank if that person has EVER posed nude or semi-nude for photographs of any kind. If they have, they generally don’t get to compete. It’s as simple as that. She apparently lied. She had posed nude and semi-nude for photographs, and she knew she had done so.

She issued a statement early Tuesday saying she posed for the shot when she was a 17-year-old model and objected to its release as an attempt to belittle her religious faith: “I am a Christian, and I am a model. Models pose for pictures, including lingerie and swimwear photos.”

Yes, well, then she can’t be Miss California! She was asked about having ever posed nude, and she lied. The previous pageant winners who were later found out to have nude photos out in the world were ALSO models and also lied when asked about it before being in pageants. It’s as simple as this: if there are nude or semi-nude photos of yourself anywhere in the world that are not 100% in your possession and control, do enter a major pageant and lie about them. Those photos will come out.

So she can bleat about how she’s being treated badly because of her views, and maybe she is, but the fact remains that she has broken her contract and lied on official pageant forms. These things would have come out anyway eventually, no matter how she answered the question about gay marriage on stage that night. It also leads me to believe there may be other skeletons in her closet.

Next I suppose we’ll hear she’s been married before and lied about that too. That’s one of the other huge no-nos of pageant life. They specifically ask about whether you’ve ever been married as well, and they mean it when they say they don’t want the ladies to have EVER been married at all even for five minutes in Vegas … just like they mean it when they ask about ANY nude or semi-nude photos. If you want to play the pageant game, you have to play by the rules.