Cheney speaks up for gays

[Matt_G]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 8:38pm

After reading this article from The Advocate, I threw up in my mouth a little -



Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter Mary is a lesbian, spoke supportively about gay relationships on Tuesday, saying, "Freedom means freedom for everyone."

At a campaign rally in Davenport, Iowa, Cheney was asked about his stand on same-sex marriage; his boss, President George W. Bush, has pushed for a constitutional amendment to ban such unions. "Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it's an issue our family is very familiar with," Cheney said. "With the respect to the question of relationships, my general view is, freedom means freedom for everyone.... People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.

"The question that comes up with the issue of marriage is, What kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government? Historically, that's been a relationship that has been handled by the states. The states have made that fundamental decision of what constitutes a marriage," he said. Cheney said Bush's move for a constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage was prompted by various judicial rulings, including the action in Massachusetts that made same-sex marriage legal in that state. "I think his perception was that the courts, in effect, were beginning to change, without allowing the people to be involved," Cheney said. "The courts were making the judgment for the entire country."

Cheney said the amendment did not have the votes to pass in the U.S. Senate, but he also said the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1996, may be sufficient to resolve the issue. The Cheneys have two daughters, both of whom are working on the GOP reelection campaign. Mary Cheney is director of vice presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney campaign. She held a public role as her father's assistant in the 2000 campaign and helped the Republicans recruit gay voters during the 2002 midterm elections.

During the 2000 campaign, as a vice presidential candidate, Dick Cheney took the position that states should decide legal issues about personal relationships and that people should be free to enter relationships of their choosing.

While Bush and Cheney back the proposed constitutional amendment, their Democratic rivals, Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina, oppose it. The Democrats also oppose gay marriage but defend a gay couple's rights to the same legal protections as those conferred in marriage.

"Today the vice president restated what he so eloquently said in 2000, and what the vice president said then rings just as true today. The vice president's comments should be a clear signal to the drafters of our party's platform to not include a plank that would call for a constitutional amendment," said Patrick Guerriero, executive director of the gay political group Log Cabin Republicans. "Additionally, we have called on the platform committee to adopt language that makes it clear that voices, like those of Vice President Cheney, who may disagree with the Gary Bauers of the world are welcome in this party."

The Log Cabin Republicans, in conjunction with Republicans for Choice and the Republican Youth Majority, have called on the platform committee to adopt a Party Unity Plank.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 8:46pm

Speaks up for is strong -- but he did admit a schism with his Other Half (not Lynne). It's reminiscent of Nancy Reagan and stem cell issue. The conservative agenda is put aside when it's personalized--i.e. hits home. That's not a cold, insensitive comment on my part -- call it ... compassionate liberalism. I welcome all conservatives who must grapple with aspects of life on this planet that are more complex than, say, as defined by Genesis or Rush Limbaugh.

[LadyGuenevere]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 8:47pm

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=321751&boardname=off&dt=082404065845

[Matt_G]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 8:48pm

That's why people need to title their threads accordingly.

[LadyGuenevere]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 8:49pm

I was going to mention that I liked your title better.

But I don't know why people are so upset now- they say that people are allowed to change their minds, and if Cheney now knows this and feels this on a personal level, wouldn't that benefit other people?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 10:10pm

He sort of had to admit it, given that he said it was a state's rights issue in the last vice presidential race and it was on camera and taped for the whole world to see. If not, you can bet he would not be saying these things out loud today.

[kissmycookie]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 10:12pm

compassionate, ain't it?

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 1:12am

But it shouldn't be strictly a state issue--when marriage includes federal benefits. It needs to be made legal across the country. Period. If some states banned interracial marriage, would that be fair?

And, unfortunately it IS up to activist judges to do what the majority of Americans repeatedly can't--make all Americans equal. This whole "'marriage' is a sacred word--civil unions are good enough" is bullcrap. Separate is not equal.

I have noticed a backsliding from Bush. His interview on Larry King and Laura's on O'Reilly give the impression that they do not hate gays and do want to support them as equal citizens. They just don't want to give them equal rights. Awwww. Well, I guess that is ok if ya don't hate me!

I also love that it is "ok" for Cheney and Bush to say one thing and really think another thing outside of politics, but not ok for Kerry to do so. On this issue, Bush and Kerry are equally bad. But, I choose the lesser of two evils: Kerry has done many things for the gay and lesbian community. Bush has done zilch. Kerry will fight a Constitutional Amendment. Bush advocates one.

Though both are SAYING the same things, one's action steps are certainly greater than the other in actually supporting gays.

And for this, Mary Cheney should be deeply ashamed--no matter what daddy is saying now. Daddy is merely flip flopping to get back the Log Cabin and moderates votes lost when the Constitutional Amendment backfired.

Updated On: 8/25/04 at 01:12 AM

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 4:43am

I don't get it: Cheney says DOMA may be sufficient to solve the issue, that states should be able to decide what to do about gay marriage, but that we need a constitutional amendment banning it.

Doesn't make sense.

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 8:27am

...for three and a half years he did nothing...in fact, publicly supported the amendment banning same sex marriage...and now so close to the election he changes his tune?

He's Mr. Potter from "It A Wonderful Life" trying to act like "Grandpa Walton."

I pity anyone who is gullible enough to believe him now.

Actions speak louder than words, and he has done nothing.
Updated On: 8/25/04 at 08:27 AM

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 8:40am

These are desperate times Mrs. Lovett and desperate times call for desperate measures.

Updated On: 8/25/04 at 08:40 AM

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 8:53am

So where exactly does he stand? What does he, or doesn't he support...really. This all strikes me as double-speak and too little, too late, if he *is* sincere.

And he has the nerve to join in the flip-flip mantra about Kerry? Give me a break.

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 8:55am

Hey Flits! How ya been?

He basically said he disagrees with the President but the President sets policy for the Administration, and that's that.

Really courageous.

It was the first time he acknowledged publicly that Mary plays lesbefriends.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 10:05am

"If the marriage plank is approved as expected, it would mark the first time the GOP has gone on record in its platform as supporting an amendment against those unions. The 2000 platform settled for a more general statement supporting the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman." - Associated Press

If this is the Republican platform, I don't care if Bush and Dick get up and fu*k on the stage at the convention - this is what counts.

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 10:07am

I agree DG. The whole thing sucks. And not in a good way.

Updated On: 8/25/04 at 10:07 AM

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 10:11am

"I don't care if Bush and Dick get up and fu*k on the stage at the convention"

Thanks for putting that picture in my head DG. There goes my breakfast.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 10:20am

Boobs - as unsettling as the thought is, I would prefer they did it to each other instead of us!

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 10:25am

I applaud you DG. I agree.

[kissmycookie]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 10:43am

Apparently, in the draft for the RNC platform, the anti-abortion section is entitled "Upholding the Rights of All." Then they go into the gay marriage ban...

A contradiction in terms, no?

[Auggie27]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 10:52am

Well, sleeping on this "revelation" has gotten me much more worked up. Seeing it reported in the Times, I had to go to the most cynical place -- this is a very calculated response a week before the convention. Along with the parade of "moderate" Republicans (Arnold and Rudy prominent), this is strategy to camouflage how frighteningly right wing they truly are. They know that there's a certain building fear out there, even in the heartlands, among the libertarian Republicans, that they are all in bed with fundamentalists. They want to win, and they think playing the "compassion" card again will pull some swing folk.

Of course, part of me wants to think that Mary came over with her girlfriend, tied Dick and Lynn up to two windsor chairs, and screamed "stop spewing homophobic rhetoric immediately or we'll walk all over your smug pusses in matching pairs of hers and hers mountain boots!"

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 10:59am

I have no doubt Mary is under constant pressure from gay activists and must be under intense personal anguish over this issue. It sucks to be her.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 11:12am

I don't know how Mary can support her father... her father is apart of the Bush administration, which CLEARLY dislikes her because she is gay....

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 3:56pm

I imagine that the Bush Administration (including Cheney) realizes that the VP could be an election year liability (too right wing, Halliburton, etc.).

So....Cheney shows his softer side to influence undecided more moderate voters....withdraws from the election (due to personal reasons - his daughter's sexual orientation vs. the Republication's stance on banning same-sex marriages)...and Bush announces a softer, more likable VP candidate to boost his numbers. And Cheney takes an position as one of Bush's advisors. Updated On: 8/25/04 at 03:56 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 6:10pm

Speculation has been rampant for months about dumping Cheney. He has the lowest numbers of any of the 4 men spread over the two tckets, particularl among women. But don't look to it to happen. Bush is "loyal" in extreme, and remember, Cheney is in one of the driver's seats, not riding in the back with Lady Lynn. If they wanted him gone, they'd have an easy out--his health. He has serious heart disease, so it's precarious, and the Republicans know it. The problem is -- I've heard it from a couple of places, from Repub. and Dem strategists -- the race is too tight to risk the distraction of dumping Cheney. No one wants to offend anyone "on the fence."

And as far the gay issues goes: remember, no Fundamentalist is gonna stamp his foot and run to Kerry because Dick says marriage is a state's right's issue. The base is locked in. Swing voters tend to be more libertarian, so supporting -- if not gay rights, at least backing keeping the constitution intact -- would appeal to them. Cheney's remarks -- to the Republicans -- are really a win-win.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 8/25/04 at 6:18pm

i kinda like this softer side of slick dick. this is after all a man who growled over applause directed towards him during a campaign speech, "you wanna hear this or not?"