First it was the photos, then the breast implant detail, and neither of those two controversies seemed to legally seal Miss California winner Carrie Prejean's fate. As a gay woman, I'm certainly disgusted by her anti-same sex marriage stance, but as an American, I believe in free speech, and am more disturbed by the concept that that sort of litmus test could be used to determine the winner of a national pageant. As much as it irks me to say so, I don't think Perez Hilton's question about same-sex marriage was fair. Did we really expect Miss California to come up with the articulate and diplomatic answer of "Well, Perez, I really believe that the question of marriage should be left up to the states not the federal government?" I don't think so. She spoke her opinion, and while I don't agree with or applaud that opinion, I applaud her for expressing it. Sadly, so did the audience.

Both Shanna Moakler and Keith Lewis, co-executive directors of Miss California USA, seemed angered by Miss California's anti-gay-rights comment, and said that while the state would not criticize Ms. Prejean's beliefs, she must represent everyone in the state (despite the fact that no one in the state will ever agree on any particular issue). To his point, though, it certainly doesn't sit well that a representative of a state would exhibit prejudice towards a minority. Again, though, while the gay rights question is absolutely the most controversial and compelling, there is much more to the story.

What could have potentially forced her to drop that sash was a little dishonesty, a little more breast, and a few semi-nude photos that she failed to release to Miss California USA before entering the contest. After her anti-same sex marriage comments and subsequent scandal, Miss California poised herself as a spokesperson for the Christian right and various traditional anti-same sex marriage organizations. Unsurprisingly, her standing with those groups is now in question, as shortly thereafter topless photographs of her emerged.

Precedent would suggest that Miss California should give up her crown. In 1984, Vanessa Williams (who won the Miss America pageant) was relinquished of her crown due to erotic photos taken years before that were published in Penthouse magazine. Since the scandal, however, Vanessa has enjoyed a successful singing, modeling, and acting career, and has as of recent landed herself a spot on the cultishly popular "Ugly Betty." Who cares about a crown when a press-obsessed story lands you three more careers?

Perhaps the moral of the story is: Carrie Prejean may have gained herself some enemies in the gay community, and perhaps her new photos will lose her the respect of the Christian and traditional right, but the press (including Mr. Hilton) have given Ms. Prejean a remarkable amount of fame that will open the door to dozens of opportunities and at least a few lucrative careers. I'm not sure how much those crowns go for these days, but I'm pretty sure even if she had lost it, she'd be just fine.

ASYV is a residential community, as well as high school, in Rwanda. It houses youth who lost their parents during the horrific 1994 Rwandan racial strife, when over 1 million ethnic Tutsis were killed by Hutus. In college, I actually wrote a chapter of my honors thesis in part on the Rwandan genocide, and knowing the details of the tragedy, I was excited to be a part of an event held by such an organization.

I arrived with John Norris as my date; we walked the carpet together (I'm not sure we were fooling anyone, even though I called him my "boyfriend" twice — oh well!), and went inside to a completely packed room at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. I brushed shoulders with Whitney Port, Spencer Grammer (Kelsey's daughter) and actress Susan Egan. I think Natalie Portman may have been there too (she's on the board of the organization) but I didn't see her.

After a few speakers and an excellent short film about the residents of ASYV, artist Michael Israel put on a rock-art-interactive performance, which was actually excellent. I was worried at first when I thought he was drawing a large tiger, but relieved when he turned the painting 90 degrees to the left and revealed a stunningly accurate John Lennon portrait (the song "Imagine" was playing in the background, and I felt fairly stupid for not seeing it before the "reveal" — not to mention embarrassed that I had exclaimed 10 minutes earlier that I was sure it was going to be a massive tiger...). Anyway, it was still pretty cool.

Leaving the event, I went home and re-read a few of my old papers on the Rwandan genocide, and then a little more about ASYV's "Stand Up and Be Counted" campaign. Today, I'm going to find a way to get involved myself. It really is refreshing to see an organization that is creative in their mission and diligent, efficient and successful in its implementation. Amazingly, as we heard last night, the idea for ASYV actually came from what at the time seemed an idealistic concept at a dinner party. That idea has now saved, educated, and housed hundreds of Rwandan children.

Katy's message reads, "It's what's on the outside that counts," while Estelle's says, "Life is too short — have sex be safe." In addition to music newbies, such legends as Cyndi Lauper and Yoko Ono designed clothing with slogans like, "Girls just wanna have safe sex" and "Imagine peace."

(Check out Tokio Hotel and Dita Von Teese's shirts, after the jump!)

Former Mrs. Marilyn Manson and burlesque star Dita Von Teese is also working with H&M on the campaign. "It's an honor to be asked to take part in this brilliant project," she said about working with H&M. "Every little thing that we do as individuals can add up to something that makes a major impact in the fight against HIV. With the purchase of these stylish T-shirts, you can be a part of something that makes a huge difference in this pandemic, while looking super-chic!"

Working with charities like Designers Against AIDS, YouthAIDS, UNFPA and MTV Staying Alive Foundation the campaign donates 25 percent of the sales price from the collection to HIV/AIDS awareness projects. It goes on sale May 28.

Mayor Bloomberg wants New York to be the nation's capital for service. His plan includes appointing a chief service officer, recruiting new volunteers and requiring schools to promote volunteering. There were quite a few notable attendees, including Caroline Kennedy, former New York first lady Silda Wall Spitzer and Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, who shook my hand and thanked me for coming out.

It just felt good being there, because I felt that I was leading by example for these kids. There wasn't really anybody else there with my background, so it meant a lot.

I got a chance to interact with the mayor and thank him on behalf of MTV, but also dedicate the channel's commitment to service. A few thousand people showed up, kids and adults included. It really felt like it's a continuation of what took place in November, when the changing of the guard happened in the administration and the president gave his call toward public service.

You can see it taking place right now — people are starting to care about their communities again.

Head to Think.MTV.com to find a community where you, your friends and your favorite celebrities can get informed, get heard and take action on the issues that matter to you most.

As we speak, thousands of young Americans are rallying outside the Capitol or in meetings with their congressmen and -women, demanding action on issues of renewable energy, green jobs and putting a stop to coal-burning power plants. More than 12,000 young people from across the country invaded Washington, D.C., over the past four days to protest current U.S. policies on energy and climate change.

This revolution was organized around Power Shift, a conference that brought together college students and others from all 50 states.

In addition to the rally on Capital Hill, hundreds of these Power Shift demonstrators organized a nonviolent protest by surrounding the Capital Power Plant. Activists surrounded the entrances of the coal plant in an effort to shut it down and not let people in and out of the facility. At press time, it was unclear if anyone has been arrested at this event.

There has already been buzz in the political world about the power-plant protest, as the godfather of climate change, NASA climate chief James Hansen, called for "mass civil disobedience" in support of the event. While some critics are trying to say Hansen has gone off the deep end by saying this, most young people and climate activists are praising his statement and are rallying around his urgent call.

I was in D.C. at the Power Shift conference, and this was by far the largest, most organized and most passionate conference I've ever seen. In talking with these people who came in by the busload from all over the country, it is clear they all see the urgency of the issue. Rally attendee Summer Rayne Oakes summed it up best, saying, "We need to hold our elected officials accountable and make sure they pass significant climate and energy legislation in 2009 on green jobs, renewable energy and energy efficiency. I'm just one of over 12,000 that have come to D.C. today to showcase the solutions we have to combat climate change now, and I'm making sure my representatives know this issue is a critical one for myself, my generation and our planet."

"What does it take to be a Nobel Peace Laureate? You need three things. One, you must have a big nose. Two, you must have an easy name [to pronounce]. And three, you must have sexy legs."

Believe it or not, those words are straight from the mouth of 1984 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose nonviolent opposition to the apartheid rule in South Africa earned him the honor. Tutu was one of six Nobel Peace Laureates to attend the 12th annual PeaceJam Conference in Los Angeles this past weekend. The event connects young people to Nobel Peace Laureates to promote peace within their communities, but this year's celebration had a much greater goal. PeaceJam 2008 kicked off the Global Call to Action, which aims to create a billion (that's right, a billion) acts of peace in the near future.

"These young people that come to PeaceJam come for a reason. They're here to change the world, and we tell them they can," said Betty Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work in Northern Ireland. "One person can make a difference — that's our message to all of them."

With November's presidential election within our sights, there has been a lot of talk that one person's vote out of hundreds of millions can hardly make a difference. However, the support of the Nobel Laureates at PeaceJam has proven to more than 700,000 young people since the first conference in 1996 that with enough determination, each individual has the potential to change the world.

And sexy legs aside, that was Tutu's message as well. "Nobel Laureates don't drop down from heaven. They are just ordinary human beings like you," he continued in his speech to a crowd of 3,000 students. "I want you to know that sitting in this room are future Nobel Peace Laureates."

Aside from Tutu and Betty Williams, the Laureates included Jody Williams, 1997 recipient for her criminalization of landmines; Rigoberta Menchu Tum, 1992 recipient for her advocating of Native Indian rights in Central America; Shirin Ebadi, 2003 recipient for her efforts for peace and women's rights in the Middle East; and Adolfo Perez Esquivel, 1980 recipient for his leadership for human rights and true democracy in Latin America. After an address from the Laureates, each student-led group took turns presenting their respective projects to one of the Laureates. These ranged from projects in local communities (fighting issues such as gang violence and homelessness) to international aid (like the Dollars for Darfur organization) and beyond (such as combating the depletion of the ozone layer).

"When you see these Nobel Laureates and the struggle they have been through, you're like, 'Wow, we have not gone through half of that, and they are still here encouraging us because they think that we're the best thing in the world,' " said Taylor Reed, who traveled with her classmates all the way from Minnesota to attend the conference. "With them behind us, supporting us, that's a big motivation to change our world."

People love to tell us how cool our jobs are. We get to travel, we meet celebrities, we know Tila Tequila. While that's all true, it's also important to note that the stress level can be high, traveling can be a pain, and every fantastic celebrity has a not-so-fantastic manager. Last week, however, was an exception. A team of us went to Mexico City to attend the 2008 International AIDS Conference, a meeting of the world's leading activists, scientists and politicians in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We took along Tara Bonistall, a young activist from Ohio who won a contest sponsored by MTV's Think community on ItsYourSexLife.com.

There were no celebrities, no celebrity managers (!), no impatient young starlets. Instead, we spent our days with a group of well-meaning young activists as they shared their thoughts on the HIV/AIDS crisis with anyone who would listen. And until you've marched down the Paseo de la Reforma in the heart of Mexico City with 300 youth, protesting homophobia and the stigma against having HIV, you haven't lived.

For a complete account of the convention, check out Tara's blog.

As most of you have begun to see by now, we have started to roll out our coverage of G-Unit's recent trip to Africa. We went everywhere from a platinum mine to the Apartheid Museum, from the notorious former prison Robben Island to 50 Cent/G-Unit shows in South Africa and Tanzania — as well, of course, as the meeting of a lifetime with none other than Nelson Mandela himself. That's a story that my colleagues Joseph and Phoenix hate to remember, but here is a little reminder for you folks.

Now, as you go through and enjoy the wild coverage the crew and I were so lucky to experience, remember that not everything is always as it seems. With a little TV magic, we bring you the dopest footage from all the places we went and the amazing performances we saw ... but we've also got this great peek behind the scenes during what turned out to be one of the few hiccups in our week-long trip. As DJ Whoo Kid so bluntly explained it, "Help! There is an overload of gangstas in one elevator!" Enjoy!

What's more socially acceptable: Gay marriage or gays in the military?

That was the question posed this morning after nearly 20 college students, mostly from Harvard Divinity School and all part of the Right To Serve Tour, marched to the Times Square military recruitment office to protest "Don't Ask Don't Tell," a policy signed into law by President Clinton in 1993.

Ex-Soulforce leader and Equality Ride co-founder Jake Reitan led the demonstration. He attempted to enlist, but once he announced to the recruiters that he was gay, recruiters ordered him to leave the office or (incredibly) be arrested for trespassing. Reitan refused and was quickly led away in handcuffs in front of picketing Right To Serve students and hordes of Times Square gawkers. An hour later, he was released from police custody with a summons to appear in court by the end of July.

This was the last stop of a four-city tour for the Right To Serve protesters. Similar to the Equality Ride, Reitan and company hopped on a bus and traveled to Boston, Portland, Hartford and NYC to protest what they see as "government-sanctioned discrimination." They also want to raise awareness and win support for the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, a bill introduced last year in the House of Representatives that would effectively lift the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban.

This isn't the first time Reitan has challenged this country's policy on gays in the military. In 2006, he and about 50 Soulforce activists also attempted to enlist at the famous Times Square recruitment center. The only problem was the recruiters got wind of it and didn't show up for work.

So what do you think? With recruitment numbers reaching a new low, is it finally time to allow gays in the military? Is it THAT big of a deal? And what do you think will happen first -- admitting gays into the military, or allowing gays to marry in most states?

Happy Fleet Week! While NY has been overtaken by young men and women fresh off their boats, an Air Force nurse is suing the Air Force over firing her for being a lesbian.

Major Margaret Witt spent 18 years as a flight nurse before she was suspended in 2004 (two years short of full retirement benefits). Despite a citation for her work from President Bush, someone called the Air Force and told them they were shocked, shocked! to learn Major Margaret was having a romantic relationship with a civilian woman. The military claimed this violated their "don't ask, don't tell" policy. (Although it doesn't appear as though the individuals in the actual relationship "asked" or "told," now does it?)

"Don't ask, don't tell" has been around since 1993, when President Bill Clinton introduced it as a compromise between an outright ban of gays and lesbians in the military and letting patriotic Americans serve their country regardless of who they happen to love. This left the door (um closet?) open for plenty of complications and more than a little bitterness.

Anyway, back to Major Margaret. She first sued the Air Force back in 2006, but a judge threw her case out. Then yesterday, a federal appeals court overturned that decision and possibly cleared the way for other former servicemen and women to sue the military. Now perhaps all of those Arabic translators who got booted for being gay can get their jobs back and help our soldiers and Marines understand what everyone's saying to them in Iraq.

Oh, and on a related note: Ellen DeGeneres and John McCain did a complicated little dance around the topic of gay marriage on her show...