LOS ANGELES — Miss California says she stands by her anti-gay-marriage comments, even if they may have cost her the Miss USA crown.

Carrie Prejean defended her views Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show, telling host Matt Lauer she spoke from the heart during Sunday's pageant when she said "marriage should be between a man and a woman."

The beauty queen's response to a question from openly gay pageant judge and celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has received more attention than the winner, Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton. During the pageant, Hilton asked Prejean if every state should follow Vermont in legalizing same sex marriage.

"I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other," Prejean responded.

"But in my country and in my family I think that I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offence to anybody out there but that's how I was raised."

Hilton, who also appeared on the "Today" show Tuesday, said his question was relevant and Prejean should have "left her politics and her religion out because Miss USA represents all Americans."

Prejean, who was named first runner-up at the pageant, told Lauer she knew "at that moment after I'd answered the question, I knew that I was not going to win because of my answer."

Still, she stands by her statements.

"I don't take back what I said," she told Lauer, adding she "had spoken from my heart, from my beliefs and for my God."

"It's not about being politically correct," she said.

"For me, it's about being biblically correct."