MISS USA OFFICIAL RESIGNS

Co-executive director of the Miss California USA pageant Shanna Moakler resigned her post on Wednesday after Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump allowed Carrie Prejean to keep her Miss California title.

Moakler had accused Prejean of violating the contract she signed with pageant organisers by speaking out on behalf of organisations opposed to gay marriage and by failing to disclose she had posed nearly nude for racy photographs before entering the state pageant.

Prejean, who answered her pageant question on same-sex marriage by claiming that “a marriage should be between a man and a woman”, has since appeared in an anti-gay marriage ad and began speaking in front of crowds opposed to gay marriage, including her San Diego church and the National Organization for Marriage.

“I cannot with a clear conscience move forward supporting and promoting the Miss Universe Organization when I no longer believe in it or the contracts I signed committing myself as a youth,” said Moakler, who won the Miss USA pageant in 1995.

“I want to be a role model for young women with high hopes of pageantry, but now feel it more important to be a role model for my children.”