By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

You can admire Miss California Carrie Prejean even if you don't agree with her view on gay marriage.

Rather than come across as a scripted, near-airhead contestant on the Miss USA contest (and we've sure seen our share of beauty pageant participants fitting that description), Prejean spoke her mind on Sunday.

Asked her views on gay marriage, she responded:

We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised.

Her response drew criticism later from judge and gay blogger Perez Hilton. He caller her dumb and even worse.

But again, it was refreshing to see someone not give the politically correct answer.

Predictably, conservatives and some Republican politicians are embracing Prejean because of her comments. That's fine, too, because she's getting a positive reaction for speaking her mind.

Plus, despite irritating some people in the Miss USA crowd, Prejean finished as first runnerup.

She might have won the competition if she'd given a more nuanced answer to the question on gay marriage. But she apparently wasn't raised that way.

Good for Carrie Prejean.