The Cheneys: Bigoted, or Bad Parents?
Apparently the best criticism the Republicans can come up with of Kerry's debate performance last night is that it was wrong of him to mention the well-known fact that Dick Cheney's daughter Mary is a lesbian. Both Dick and his wife gave very huffy sounding interviews in which they decried this atrocious invasion of their family privacy. This is gall of the first order. First off, if they are so concerned about keeping Mary out of the public eye they might have chosen to not hire her to head up Dick's campaign team. According to Gay and Lesbian Times she is being paid slightly over $72,000 a year for this work. This certainly belies their feigned desire to keep her out of the public arena.
Secondly, Cheney seemed to have no objection to her being drawn into the vice-presidential debate, and thanked John Edwards for having acknowledged the personal side of Cheney's dealing with his administrations vehement anti-gay rhetoric and actions. If he were truly opposed to her sexuality being discussed, surely his being spoken of in a flattering way should not have mitigated the parental rage he and his wife have suddenly discovered.
Finally, the concept of Cheney desiring privacy for his family while being complicit in official actions aimed at denying this right of privacy to gay couples across America really takes the cake. Perhaps the real challenge for the Cheneys is that if Mary was born lesbian and has simply discovered her true nature, the extremist bigotry they are pandering to to get re-elected has had one of it's key underpinnings kicked out from under it. On the other hand, if she became lesbian as a result of her upbringing then, by their own definition (although certainly not by mine) they have failed as parents.