Reality Check's Miss Washington speaks out about her nontraditional family and gay marriage rights

Alright, the guilty pleasure of the season for me (since America's Psychic Challenge wrapped, of course) was Miss America: Reality Check, the 4-week mini-reality-competition leading up to the all-but-obsolete Miss America pageant this past Saturday. The goal of the new format was to update the pageant and make it more relevant, and I guess that from where I was sitting it was a success in those terms, as I can't remember the last time I have watched the pageant or even known who won.

But this year I tuned in for one reason: Miss Washington, Elyse Umemoto.

The reason I wanted Elyse to take the crown (she didn't, losing to Miss Michigan, who made zero-to-little impression on the show) was because of something that she said in the last episode of Reality Check when the ladies were asked to do a faux red carpet appearance. When the interviewer asked Umemoto what her stance was on gay marriage, she promptly replied that she fully supported it, adding that she has both a mother and a stepfather ... and a father and a stepfather.

I did a little math and realized that Miss Washington has three daddies, and is proud to say so.

Due in large part to this confidence, Umemoto was one of the three winners of Reality Check, and took home a $10,000 scholarship and a new wardrobe as a result. And she came in as second runner-up in the actual pageant, which scored her another $20,000 scholarship. Umemoto notes on her website that she'd like to get a law degree and work for diversity and women's issues, and she's moving in the right direction considering that had she taken the crown, she would have been the first Native American Miss America ... as well as the first Hispanic, the second Asian, and from what I can tell, the first who speaks openly about her gay dads.

Congrats to Umemoto on all her wins. Just for fun, here's her crowning moment at the 2007 Miss Washington pageant.