Miss California Carrie Prejean responds to her topless photos

Prejean, a Christian college student, had first stirred national controversy when she made highly publicized comments opposing same-sex marriage at the April 19 Miss USA pageant.

Later, she added fuel to the flames originated from her stance against gay marriage by joining a television ad campaign to protect what she described as "opposite marriage" (that between a man and a woman). Prejean appears in a television ad campaign funded by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), an organization committed to opposing homosexual marriage.

But the controversies don’t end here. The buzz is that Miss California now faces the threat of being stripped off her title.

Rumors running rampant all over the Internet that officials of Miss California USA are looking into whether or not title holder Carrie Prejean infringed her contract by being affiliated with a national group that opposes same-sex marriage and by posing nude.

Details of the photos
Scantily clad pictures of the 21-year-old Miss California when she was a teen-ager began doing the rounds on the Internet late Monday night, first posted at the gossip Web site TheDirty.com.

One photo features the beauty queen clad only in a racy pair of pink panties. In the photo, the topless model is shown covering her breasts with her hands, with her back facing the camera. The celebrity gossip Web site claims it has five more photos of Prejean, some of which are more explicit.

Prejean defends herself
Now, Prejean has come forward to defend her image. Responding to the online leakage of her old photo, gorgeous Prejean said that she was only 17 when the photograph was taken, and that the shot was meant to be used in a portfolio.

"I am a Christian, and I am a model," Carrie said yesterday. "Models pose for pictures including lingerie and swimwear photos."

In response to the photo, the beauty queen said: "Recently, photos taken of me as a teenager have been released surreptitiously to a tabloid Web site that openly mocks me for my Christian faith."

"I am not perfect, and I will never claim to be," she added. "These attacks on me and others who speak in defense of traditional marriage are intolerant and offensive. While we may not agree on every issue, we should show respect for others' opinions and not try to silence them through vicious and mean-spirited attacks."