“Miss Beverly Hills” Advocates Death for Homosexuals
"Miss Beverly Hills" Lauren Ashley
It was inevitable that the Miss USA Pageant would once again be infiltrated by a religious extremist, but this one goes way beyond the last one.
Lauren Ashley, 23, a Miss California contestant that claims to represent Beverly Hills, CA, has literally advocated for the death penalty for homosexuality. In a Fox News Channel interview, Ashley said “The Bible says that marriage is between a man and a woman. In Leviticus it says, ‘If man lies with mankind as he would lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death and their blood shall be upon them.’ The Bible is pretty black and white.” She goes on. “I feel like God himself created mankind and he loves everyone, and he has the best for everyone. If he says that having sex with someone of your same gender is going to bring death upon you, that’s a pretty stern warning, and he knows more than we do about life.”
To Beverly Hills Mayor Nancy Krasne, those were fighting words. “We are dismayed by any potential association with the city of Beverly Hills, which has a long history of tolerance and respect,” Krasne said. In a statement today, the city said it was “shocked” by Ashley’s description of herself as “Miss Beverly Hills.” The city “does not sponsor a beauty pageant and has no association with Miss California USA,” the statement said. “As such, there should be no individual claiming the title of Miss Beverly Hills.”
Keith Lewis, a K2 Productions stage director for the Miss California USA pageant, said Ashley’s “Miss Beverly Hills” moniker was of her own choosing. Under pageant rules, he said, “the girls pick the territory they represent. Her representation area is Beverly Hills USA. When she competes [in November], her sash will read ‘Beverly Hills USA.’ The Miss California USA system has always had a place for an individual’s thoughts and opinions when it comes to all sides of political issues. It is an organization which empowers women, and everyone is entitled to their own beliefs.” Lewis, who is himself gay, says that while he disagrees with Ashley’s views, he’ll support her right to have and share them with others in any way she chooses.
Ashley, who is a resident of the City of Pasadena, CA, owns her own personal training company in Beverly Hills. Beverly Hills said it had contacted pageant officials to determine how to prevent any future beauty contestants from claiming the title of Miss Beverly Hills. The pageant is put on by K2 Productions in Los Angeles.
Ashley herself could not be reached for comment. Ashley claims to “have a lot of friends that are gay, and … I have a lot of friends who have different views, and we share our views together,” she said. “There’s no hate between me and anyone.” How Ashley’s comments are being taken by those “gay friends” is largely unknown, nor is how her comments will impact her business, located in an area with a large gay and lesbian population nearby (West Hollywood).
Unlike the controversial views regarding same-sex marriage voiced by former Miss California Carrie Prejean, Ashley’s views crosses the line from having a view that differs from others into a dangerous area of incitement and hate speech, in calling for the murder of LGBT persons simply because of her own religious beliefs. This is especially true given the activities of certain US based evangelical “Christian” groups in promoting and supporting legislation in Uganda that calls for exactly what Ashley says should happen, a death penalty for LGBT persons for no other reason than they exist.
It is also not the first time in recent history such views have been promoted. While Ashley may not wear a swastika armband, or have a funny little mustache, she is rapidly becoming the new face of hatred and potentially violent intolerance, Aryan looking young models who largely promote a patriarchal view of female sexuality, while they espouse hateful and violent views towards specific groups.
And we have corporations like K2 Productions and News Corp to thank for this.
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Well, she's correct - the Bible clearly states that a man who has sex with a man is to be killed. A woman who has sex with a woman isn't mentioned. Christianity and Judaism are both based on this book, and the book is completely unambiguous.
So let's state the obvious: Christianity and Judaism are mostly bullshit. The Bible is bullshit. I've read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Matthew. As far as I am able to tell at this point, the Bible is nonsense. If the parts that I haven't read yet prove me wrong, I'll admit my fault and apologize. But I don't believe in what it says.
I don't believe, for example, that people who contract a venereal disease should deal with the problem by bringing to doves to the priest so he can sacrifice them. I don't spend a lot of time, for example, deliberating about whether or not dwarfs or people with crushed testicles should be allowed near the alter. I don't think, for example, that it's acceptable to sell my brother into slavery, as long as I follow certain guidelines. This is the content of the Bible. NON. SENSE.
There are some good ideas in Christianity and Judaism, but you certainly don't have to be a Christian or a Jew to learn them. I understand that there are cultural aspects of these religions, and I respect that. It's fine with me, because most of those people have never read the Bible, so they have no clue what they're worshipping. Behavioral control is the purpose of religion in almost every case. It's an impediment to spirituality.
This woman is an idiot. And she will never understand how or why she's an idiot, but she's an idiot.