In these days of hypersensitivity, you don't need anyone's help to run afoul of political incorrectness and wind up consigned to P.C. Purgatory.

Just ask Don Imus, Michael Richards, Chris Buttars, Fuzzy Zoeller, Fisher DeBerry and, if he were alive, Howard Cosell.

But this time it was a trap.

Miss California was on stage for the Miss USA Pageant last week when a man named Perez Hilton — identified as a "celebrity blogger" (whatever that means) and pageant judge — asked a question he knew would snag most Americans. It was a setup. An ambush. Hilton, a man with an agenda, lobbed a question at the contestant that he knew had no answer that would make everyone happy.

He asked about her views on same-sex marriage.

Rather than play it safe or dodge the question or turn mealy-mouthed like a politician, or lie, Carrie Prejean gave an honest answer. And that, according to some accounts, cost her a victory. She was named runner-up.

And what did she say that was so awful? Was it hateful and hurtful? Did she use inflammatory anti-gay terms? No, her answer was perfect — tactful, direct, empathetic, composed and respectful. Whether you agree with her answer should be irrelevant.

"I think it's great Americans are able to choose one way or another," she said. "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. 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, and that's how I think it should be — between a man and a woman."

Well, of course they took offense out there. It's what a certain group of Americans does best. You have a constitutional right to express your opinion — as long as it agrees with a certain minority.

In the aftermath, pageant officials urged Prejean to apologize and to refuse discussing her beliefs in future interviews. Normally, this is the part where most people backpedal faster than Deion Sanders — but Prejean stood her ground. She refused both requests.

"I knew I had to stay true to my beliefs and not let them intimidate me into taking back what I said, because I don't take back what I said," she said.

Prejean didn't go on stage to make a statement or to push a cause (that was Hilton's shtick); the issue was thrown in her face on a national stage, and she chose to answer forthrightly. She said afterward she knew immediately that her answer would cost her the crown.

There was a time when standing up for what you believe in made you courageous and heroic. Now it makes you a villain.

Or does it really?