Cheney's Gay Daughter is Pregnant; Supporters Struggle with Loyalty (1 Viewer)

[ur_inner_child]

Gay Daughter's Pregnancy throws Cheney Supporters
Johanna Neuman in Washington
December 8, 2006

NO REPUBLICAN in Washington is more beloved by social conservatives than the Vice-President Dick Cheney, who with his wife Lynne, has backed and breathed every issue dear to them for six tumultuous years.

News that Mr Cheney's gay daughter, Mary, is pregnant has therefore touched a raw nerve as advocates for conservative family values struggle to reconcile their loyalty to the Cheneys with their visceral opposition to same-sex relationships - and particularly to raising a child without a father.

"Not only is she doing a disservice to her child, she's voiding all the effort her father put into the Bush Administration," said Janice Shaw Crouse, a senior fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute, run by Concerned Women for America.

Asked why the Administration played down the news, she said: "This is Cheney's daughter; anything they say will make the situation worse."

Mr Cheney's office confirmed on Wednesday that Mary Cheney, 37, an executive at AOL, was expecting her first child with her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe.

Mr Cheney and his wife issued a statement saying they are "looking forward with eager anticipation to the arrival of their sixth grandchild". The Cheneys' older daughter, Elizabeth, had her fifth child in July.

A White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said that when Mr Cheney told the President, George Bush, of Mary Cheney's pregnancy, "the President congratulated them and said he is very happy for them".

Some groups that oppose same-sex marriage and gay adoptions, such as the Family Research Council and the Eagle Forum, declined to comment. But others were critical, albeit in a low-key way not always seen in the political wars over gay issues.

"Children deserve the very best we can offer, and gay adoption - by definition - intentionally denies children either a mother or a father," said Carrie Gordon Earll, an analyst for Focus on the Family. "Adoption laws should put the needs of children first, above the desires of adults."

Family Pride, a Washington-based group that organised for gay families to join the Easter egg roll on the White House lawn this year, said Ms Cheney's pregnancy would focus attention on the injustice of parents without equal rights. The two women live in Virginia, which has a state law and a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage or civil unions, and where the legal status of adoption by gays is unclear.

"Unless they move to a handful of less restrictive states, Heather will never be able to have a legal relationship with her child," said Jennifer Chrisler, the group's executive director. "Grandpa Cheney has been part of an administration that has levelled unprecedented attacks [on gays] … If this doesn't make it real for him, I don't know what will."

But social conservatives said the case highlights the tragedy of children raised without fathers. Others disagreed. "All of the peer-reviewed social science studies show that gay people can and are good parents," said Chris Barron, former political director for the Log Cabin Republicans, the largest organisation for gays in the Republican Party. Single parents were often in more difficult economic situations and spent less time with their children, he said.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/12/07/1165081092206.html?from=top5

 

[Armani]

The very definition of irony and hypocracy.

 

[bshoc]

No that would be the case only if Cheney himself were gay, which conservative party is Cheney's daugher part of again?

He should just disown her publically and get back to business, as should all parents with gay children.

 

[gerhard]

bshoc, how does it feel to know that gay marriage will most likely be legalised in your lifetime?

young people on the whole are much more receptive to the idea, and us young people will one day be old people and in positions of power.

 

[bshoc]

bshoc, how does it feel to know that gay marriage will most likely be legalised in your lifetime?

The same way I feel about any other unsubstantiated and highly unrealistic statement you ever make.

young people on the whole are much more receptive to the idea, and us young people will one day be old people and in positions of power.

Young people are receptive to alot of things, young people also grow up and generally get more intelligent with age, thus irrelevating stupidity like your gay marriage ideas and any values of youthful leftism one may have, if the young people of decades past adhered to their ideas of youth it would be not difficult to imagine Australia being some sort of socialist state, as my politics lecturer once pointed out had this been 30 years ago half of the lecture theater would have answered "yes" to the question "are you a socialist?"

A year or two a ago I would have supported compulsory student unionism, gay marriage etc. Things change when it actually becomes you money on the line, and if one cares to educate themselves on the nature of society, and considers what kind of world future generations should have to live in.

 

[Xayma]

No that would be the case only if Cheney himself were gay, which conservative party is Cheney's daugher part of again?

He should just disown her publically and get back to business, as should all parents with gay children.

She is actively involved in her fathers political life. Including being a campaign aide and heavily involved in her reelection campaign. So she would presumably belong to the Republican party.

 

[dagwoman]

He should just disown her publically and get back to business, as should all parents with gay children.

What a hideous and hateful thing to say. You seriously need to work on the unnecessary hate you have for others. Why is it do you hate gay people when they've done nothing to you?

 

[The Brucemaster]

Young people are receptive to alot of things, young people also grow up and generally get more intelligent with age, thus irrelevating stupidity like your gay marriage ideas and any values of youthful leftism one may have, if the young people of decades past adhered to their ideas of youth it would be not difficult to imagine Australia being some sort of socialist state, as my politics lecturer once pointed out had this been 30 years ago half of the lecture theater would have answered "yes" to the question "are you a socialist?"

A year or two a ago I would have supported compulsory student unionism, gay marriage etc. Things change when it actually becomes you money on the line, and if one cares to educate themselves on the nature of society, and considers what kind of world future generations should have to live in.

Oh do tell us, bshoc, what is this great understanding of society that you possess?

Because it appears to me that your 'understanding' is based around the fact that slightly less than half the population are total idiots while you and other like-minded people are paragons of virtue, the epitome of intelligence and human decency.

Hmmm, this is indeed great wisdom that you possess...

 

[yy]

A year or two a ago I would have supported compulsory student unionism, gay marriage etc. Things change when it actually becomes you money on the line, and if one cares to educate themselves on the nature of society, and considers what kind of world future generations should have to live in.

i don't think supporting gay marriages would make you lose money

 

[bshoc]

She is actively involved in her fathers political life. Including being a campaign aide and heavily involved in her reelection campaign. So she would presumably belong to the Republican party.

I know that, but one can reasonably assume that if "gay rights" were of a primary concern to her, she wouldn't work against her goals in such a manner.

 

[bshoc]

What a hideous and hateful thing to say. You seriously need to work on the unnecessary hate you have for others. Why is it do you hate gay people when they've done nothing to you?

Any person who legitimately cares about their own family worth, status and broader social cohesion would disown any gay child, its the proper way to adress the problem of homosexuality within society through indavidual initiative.

 

[bshoc]

Oh do tell us, bshoc, what is this great understanding of society that you possess?

Because it appears to me that your 'understanding' is based around the fact that slightly less than half the population are total idiots while you and other like-minded people are paragons of virtue, the epitome of intelligence and human decency.

Hmmm, this is indeed great wisdom that you possess...

To explain to you my "understanding" in totality would require far greater time and effort typing up a multi page response, which I'm not really willing to put in. However lets bring in some common logic, with the fact that why a non-gay person would support or care about the issue of "gay marriage" or "gay rights"

1. The person is a closet homosexual themselves.
2. Adherence to a radical far left ideology.
3. Following a stupid youth culture with nothing to adress, no personal stake to gain or lose, and simply follow some retarded trendyness that comes heaped with a whole lot of other stupid ideas like "saying sorry" etc. In some sense using the issue to crap all over social values.

One has to seriously question the motivation of any of the above three, and indeed the fact that recognition of any sort of "gay" right plays into a much broader political conflict within society, one which the people above cannot be permitted under any circustances to gain any sort of victory in.