Mary Cheney and Partner Are About to Be Moms

Washington Post ^ | December 6, 2006 | Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts

[West Coast Conservative]

Mary Cheney, the vice president's openly gay daughter, is pregnant. She and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, are "ecstatic" about the baby, due in late spring, said a source close to the couple.

It's a baby boom for grandparents Dick and Lynne Cheney: Their older daughter, Elizabeth, went on leave as deputy assistant secretary of state before having her fifth child in July. "The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation to the arrival of their sixth grandchild," spokesman Lea Anne McBride said last night.

Cheney, 37, was a key aide to her father during the 2004 reelection campaign and now is vice president for consumer advocacy at AOL. Poe, 45, a former park ranger, is renovating their Great Falls home.

News of the pregnancy will undoubtedly reignite the debate about gay marriage. During the campaign, Mary Cheney was criticized by gay activists for not being more publicly supportive of same-sex marriage. Her father said people "ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to" but deferred to the president's policy supporting a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. Cheney herself called the proposed amendment "a gross affront to gays and lesbians everywhere" in her book, "Now It's My Turn: A Daughter's Chronicle of Political Life," which was published in May.

Cheney has described her relationship with Poe -- whom she took to last year's White House dinner honoring Prince Charles and Camilla-- as a marriage. The two met in 1988 while playing ice hockey and began dating four years later. They moved from Colorado to Virginia a year ago to be closer to Cheney's family.

[A6M3]

Whose the proud papa?

[Sunsong]

I don't know if Mary Cheney ever wanted to be the "poster child" for lesbian parents - but she has the job now.

I hope people here can muster some common decency and show a little of the dignity and class the Cheney family demonstrates.

[Howlin]

Aren't you the dreamer.

[knarf]

[Sunsong]

Aren't you the dreamer.

smile

Sometimes I actually think that posters here are cognizant of the impact of what they write on the majority of voters here in America. But, as you say, I'm a bit of an optimist :-)

[takenoprisoner]

I see no dignity in artifical insemination resulting in pregnancy supported by some anonymous seman donar at the clinic. I certainly see no class in that. Decency? Toward what? Lesbians raising children? How do you later in the child's life explain to them that they were artificially conceived by some anonymous donor?

[blondee123]

I'd rather see someone like Mary Cheney who isn't out there shoving it down our throats than the openly gay ones who are marching, having parades, carrying signs & wearing t-shirts that you wish your kids weren't with you & could read, when you see them.

She carries herself with pride & isn't flaunting anything. I do not approve of gays or lesbians but can accept that they have a right to live as they want, but don't push it in our faces. We do NOT have to accept it as normal & those are the kind that really bug me.

[Types_with_Fist]

“The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation to the arrival of their sixth grandchild...”

[Finalapproach29er]

Heather has two mommies; it's just wrong.

[El Gato]

How do you later in the child's life explain to them that they were artificially conceived by some anonymous donor?

Not to defend the practice, I think kids, especially boys, need fathers, not two mothers, but how much harder could that be than explaining the usual process?

[Sunsong]

How do you later in the child's life explain to them that they were artificially conceived by some anonymous donor?

The same way that all women who have utilized artificial insemination have explained it. I'm not sure it's too very different than later in life explaining to a child that they have no father because he chose not to be a part of their life.

Btw, the dignity I speak of has to do with the entire Cheney family and the way they have conducted themselves during the last six years.

[trumandogz]

Hopefully Ronald Reagan but a tube on ice waiting for a moment just like this.


Heather Cheney-Reagan For President in 2048!

[ridge]

I think same sex parents are harmful to the memetic development of children. Some studies like ones from a researcher at UVirgina portray a more positive outlook.

[trumandogz]

Hopefully Ronald Reagan put a tube on ice waiting for a moment just like this.


Heather Cheney-Reagan For President in 204

[peggybac]

"Whose the proud papa?"


Let's just pray it isn't David Crosby

[Dallas59]

Must be difficult for Dick Cheney sometimes.

[SoCalPol]

Even more harmful are welfare layabouts who have 8 kids by eight different guys and not sure who by who.

or kids who have a mom and dad who should have never married or had a kid to start with making the kids life a living hell.

and the examples could go on.

[2ndDivisionVet]

How is this anyone's business except Miss Cheney and her "partner" or whatever we're calling it this week?
I don't want to hear about people's sex lives, unlike most of the lemmings and sheeple in this country, getting their news from E!, People Magazine and Jon Stewart. What happened to the United States of America that I grew up in?

[Dallas59]

Rosie ODonnell?

[OKIEDOC]

I hope people here can muster some common decency and show a little of the dignity and class the Cheney family demonstrates.


REPLY: I see no dignity in violating the principals set out in the bible on how to procreate a child.

I feel sorry for the Cheney family but Mary is their burden and is not for us to carry.

I believe that God may have a different take on artificially manufacturing a child.

You plea reeks of more feminazi emasculation of the already weak American male.

[trumandogz]

Perhaps Rummy is the proud Pappy and the Presidential Election for 2048 will begin the day the baby is born,

Donald Dick Rumsfeld-Cheney for President 2048!



Run, Liberals, Run!!

[paulat]

Not to defend the practice, I think kids, especially boys, need fathers, not two mothers

El Gato...this ain't agin' you...but men have not been stepping up to the plate.

...and if people say men have been beaten down by feminism...then they're not real men.

A high percentage of boys are raised by single moms these days, and most turn out okay...not ideal...but okay. The men are not there.

Two loving parents, in this case, have a trump on the single mom with serial boyfriends.

All that said...I agree with you...a mom AND a DAD are the best option.

[decal]

"Perhaps Rummy is the proud Pappy..."

As long as it's not Dick Cheney....

[trumandogz]

No human needs a Double Dose of those Dick Cheney genes.

[OKIEDOC]

What happened to the United States of America that I grew up in?

COMMENT:

It went the way of the Edsel and Hoola Hoop.

To many men lost sight of their Godly duties as masters of the house.

To many old sixties hippies survived to tear down America with the help of their comrades in arms such as Traitor John Kerry.

Hell, all us men have left to do to morph into real sissy's is to get in touch with are inner feelings and have a good cry with the gals.

[paulat]

You're going to want to see this first thing in the AM.

[paulat]

I believe that God may have a different take on artificially manufacturing a child.

My brother has two beautiful girls through in-vitro.

They took the totally moral stance of accepting however many eggs were fertilized.

There was nothing wrong in the birth of my two nieces.

[Kozak]

[trumandogz]

To save America for the long run we may need to open a "GOP Stud Farm."

Of course no Rino's could be introduced but we could find a great breading stock starting with Ann Coulter and Michele Malkin.

On the other side of the fence we could start with Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Rummy, Bush and Cheney.

[paulat]

we could find a great breading stock starting with Ann Coulter and Michele Malkin

Ask them about how they'd feel about being your heifers.

[paulat]

Of course no Rino's could be introduced but we could find a great breading stock starting with Ann Coulter and Michele Malkin.

Have you ever hear of "eugenics?" Margaret Sanger...read about it. Hope you or none of yours had a Democrat mother.

[trumandogz]

The concept is to breed the best conservative female minds in our country with with the best conservative male minds. The kids are then provided with a solid conservative education on military tactics, economics and social issues.

Once educated they will be elected to the Presidency and perhaps the Senate.


What Could Go Wrong??????

[trumandogz]

My kids have a democratic mother.

[paulat]

What Could Go Wrong??????

With all due respect...you're terribly annoying.

[dayglored]

Personally, I don't think this is any of our business.

But I find it fascinating that many (not all) anti-gay-parent folks here on FR are willing to give Mary Cheney a pass simply because she's the daughter of a favored Republican.

If this were the gay daughter of Democrats they'd want to string her up and/or throw her out of the country, and/or say it was all the fault of her Democrat parents. Where is the condemnation they heap on the opposition? Why is this not Dick and Lynne Cheney's "faults" for how they raised their daughter? I sense some uneasy hypocrisy.

Understand, my own opinion is:

• A married man and woman are the best combination for parents raising children.
• Mary's situation is none of our business.
• It's also not a matter for the media to gawk at or gossip about.
• Dick and Lynne are not "at fault" for their daughter's homosexuality, nor for her becoming a gay parent. It's Mary's life and her decisions. Same would be true if they were all Democrats.
• It's a shame the biological father won't have the benefits and responsibilities of fatherhood of this baby.
• Any meaningful condemnation or blessing should, and will, come from their God, not from us.

We ought to just wish them well and be comforted in the knowledge that their new family addition will be happy and loved. And leave them all alone.

[ridge]

We're not discussing economics. We're talking about rational people like Ms. Cheney who are not capable of having a family because of her sexual and relationship choice. She took a baby from a potential mom and dad. bottomline.

[paulat]

My kids have a democratic mother.

Well, then...you answered your own question.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

I believe that God may have a different take on artificially manufacturing a child.

It's no skin off God's back, but it doesn't do much for the human race.

[SoCalPol]

Some mom & dad's should not be parents.
Working with the county attys. I have seen what some have done to their kids, most is not printable.

[trumandogz]

Sorry to annoy. It was an attempt of a joke based on the uncertainty of who the father is. Again joking, I interjected the idea that the father be a strong conservative so that the baby will have strong conservative genes.

[dayglored]

> The concept is to breed the best conservative female minds in our country with with the best conservative male minds.

I think you're confused about how babies are conceived. It has little to do with brains, and much to do with glands. "Making love with our minds" is a little too New Age for me.

Granted, if two intelligent people breed, maybe the combination of "nature and nurture" will tend to produce an intelligent offspring. But I don't think your choice of Ann Coulter and Michele Malkin has anything to do with their brains, frankly... tell me, would have said that if they looked like Helen Thomas and Hillary Clinton, two very intelligent but not-so-nearly-good-looking women?

See? Glands.

[paulat]

Sorry to annoy. It was an attempt of a joke based on the uncertainty of who the father is. Again joking, I interjected the idea that the father be a strong conservative so that the baby will have strong conservative genes.

I sent you a private message...but since you were not polite enough to reply to me privately...here goes....

You said you have a Democrat wife.

My take: you are putting your kids in jeopardy.

[tlb]

On the one hand you have Mary Cheney and her partner of 15 years raising a child, and on the other you have Briteny Spears delivering two children in holy wedlock with her husband Kevin Federline.

My money is on the Cheney child to grow up far more positively.

[trumandogz]

It was a joke and Coulter and Malkin were put in Contrast with the likes of Rummy and Limbaugh!

[trumandogz]

For some reason, I did not receive your private message.

Looks at this point that we have a liberal boy and a conservative girl.


And I still have time to work on da Boy!

[paulat]

She took a baby from a potential mom and dad. bottomline.

And mom and dads have a pretty poor track record of staying together THROUGH the raising of kids. I'm talking the kids are at least 18.

[dayglored]

> It was a joke...

Oh, I knew that. Actually my response was in that same vein of perhaps-too-subtle humor.

It's 3:25AM here, I should stop posting and go to bed... ;-)

[trumandogz]

Too late for humor.


Off to bed with that very liberal wife of mine!

[dayglored]

> Looks at this point that we have a liberal boy and a conservative girl.

My wife is a flaming left-libertarian; was a radical liberal in college long ago, now much more of a fiscal and political conservative; e.g. she joined the NRA a few years before I did, having decided (correctly) that firearms were appropriate to her lifestyle. Hell if I know how she votes these days.

Our daughter (13) is looking like a Goldwater conservative at this point, with strong environmental leanings, and a keen sense that the government should stick to the Constitution and Keep It Simple Stupid.

So don't worry about your Democrat spouse. Just exemplify your conservative principles and be willing to debate on any topic. At least, that's my best take on it for now...