Carrie Prejean Sues Miss California USA for 'Religious Discrimination'

'We will make the case that her title was taken from her solely because of her support of traditional marriage.'

SAN FRANCISCO (LifeSiteNews.com) - The next contest for Miss California USA and its officials has a new and unusual location: California's Superior Court. The dethroned Miss California, Carrie Prejean, has decided finally to file a lawsuit against K2 Productions, which owns the Miss California USA franchise, and its officials, whom she says defamed and discriminated against her over her public support for traditional marriage.

Hollywood blog sites Big Hollywood and TMZ.com both report that Prejean filed court papers on Monday with the Los Angeles County Superior Court accusing K2 Productions officials, Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler, and publicist Roger Neal, of engaging in character defamation, religious discrimination, public disclosure of private facts, as well as both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Prejean's lawyer, Charles S. LiMandri, told Big Hollywood in a statement: "Over the past two months we have worked hard to provide overwhelming evidence that Carrie Prejean did not violate her contract with Miss California USA and did not deserve to have her title revoked by Keith Lewis.

"We will make the case that her title was taken from her solely because of her support of traditional marriage. Keith Lewis has refused to clear her good name or even to admit any wrongdoing. Therefore, Carrie Prejean is left with no alternative but to take her case to court where she expects to be fully vindicated."

According to TMZ, the suit alleges that Lewis, the executive director of K2 Productions, and Shanna Moakler, the former Miss California pageant director, both conspired to have Prejean removed from her title as Miss California after Prejean publicly reaffirmed her belief that marriage was the union of a man and a woman.

Lewis and Moakler swiftly joined in public denunciation of Prejean's answer after the Miss USA pageant.

Prejean's lawsuit alleges that Lewis and Moakler "fabricated a fraudulent list of some 50 public appearances allegedly missed by Prejean which they released to the media in order to justify her termination as Miss California USA."

Lewis, however, has charged that Prejean was dismissed on legitimate breaches of contract and not for her views on same-sex "marriage." He maintains that Prejean is engaging in a publicity stunt by claiming that K2 Productions had persecuted her over her stance on marriage.

Miss USA/Miss Universe owner Donald Trump, however, is not named in the lawsuit. Prejean has stated in the past that she has maintained her admiration and respect for Trump, even though Trump finally agreed with K2 Productions request to fire Prejean.

Prejean entered a world of controversy on April 19, 2009 when she stated that she believed marriage should be "between a man and a woman" in response to a question from homosexual pageant judge Perez Hilton. Prejean's answer appeared to have cost her the Miss USA crown, which Hilton affirmed. Hilton publicly savaged Prejean as "a dumb b**ch" and said that had her answer been different than what he called "the worst answer in pageant history," Prejean would have been Miss USA.

In the weeks afterwards, Prejean became the subject of a smear-campaign in which racy photographs of a modeling shoot taken in Prejean's teenage years were posted on celebrity gossip sites, and unsubstantiated rumors circulated in the media that Prejean's mother had engaged in a lesbian relationship.

For her part, the former beauty queen has stated that the most important lesson she learned is that "nothing is more important than standing up for what you believe in, no matter what the cost may be." Prejean has used the opportunity to advocate for traditional marriage with the National Organization for Marriage. The group has featured Prejean and her answer to Hilton in an ad called "No Offense," which advances the argument that Prejean's treatment offers a shade of things to come if homosexualist activists succeed in eradicating true marriage.

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