CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / SAN DIEGO

Carrie Prejean, who created a media firestorm at the Miss USA pageant when she spoke out against gay marriage, told the congregation of her mega-church Sunday that she resisted pressure from organizers to apologize on national television.

Prejean said officials from the Miss California USA pageant were worried that her comments would cost their contest financial backing.

“ ‘You need to apologize to the gay community. You need to not talk about your faith. This has everything to do with you representing California and saving the brand,’ ” the 21-year-old model recalled being told.

Prejean, who finished first runner-up in the pageant, received a hero’s welcome at The Rock, an evangelical church that was active in the campaign to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriages in California last year.

“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,” Prejean told the church.

In response to a question about gay marriage, Prejean had said it was “great” that Americans could chose whether to marry someone of the same or opposite sex, but “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.”

The producers of the pageant did not return a message seeking comment.