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.

[gridlock]

Whose the proud papa?

Reason # 1416 to KEEP TRACK OF YOUR BOYZ!!!

[BlackbirdSST]

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

How does a man, real or imagined, get between two lesbians? Blackbird.

[tessalu]

"Papa" what's dat?

[JNL]

That's right.

[newzjunkey]

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

Not a chance.

[Vote 4 Nixon]

Soooo, which ones the bull?

[Vote 4 Nixon]

Soooo, which ones the bull?

[Alouette]

Whose the proud papa?

That studly guy, Turk E. Baster

[newzjunkey]

I'm not a fan of artificial methods because they opened up such a Pandora's box of moral and ethical traps often to the detriment of the child or children produced. Doesn't matter if it's the husband and wife having a litter born of "let's see what sticks" implantations or what.

I'm not thrilled with this news (more over the turkey baster than the gay-parent bit) but that's just me. I'm a Cheney fan and think he and Lynn have handled the press and tactless types like John Edwards with great class. At this point in life, their task will be to love another grandchild. It isn't for Dick to moralize himself a fifth heart-attack over his 37 yr old daughter!

[chgomac]

Maybe as you grow older you get a different perspective because no one lives in a perfect world...some things are really very simple, such as, a baby is a blessing, period!

So many couples who would be wonderful parents never get pregnant or have one miscarriage after another....and you pray that they will know that it isn't a pregnancy that "makes" you good parents. And you see them adopt a little one and your heart sings.

And as you grow older and your circle of life widens, you meet wonderful people who had very different childhoods than the one you think is due them....kids who were conceived in a disastrous relationship, even rape, kids raised by single parents, grandparents, even ones who never knew their father, or even who he was, and you realize that even though their start wasn't the easiest, your life and this world is so much richer for having them in it.

So, my thought is when a baby is coming there is only one thing to say.

CONGRATULATIONS!

[bvw]

Right. This is a form of theft from the next generation. Beggar them a Dad for her and her's pleasure.

[bvw]

Yes people can and do rise out of difficult situations. So do you go around stealing baby blankets out of carriages so they will have that chance to feel the chill and grow from the experience?

[Gideon Reader]

I wish them sincerest good luck and every possible success.
Parenting is not an easy job regardless of orientation.
They appear to be bright and capable and I am sure aware that they will be under a bright light and microscope.

[csvset]

"It ain't fittin', it just ain't fittin'!"

[gathersnomoss]

A Thanksgiving conception date I presume. TLA.

[gathersnomoss]

PANTS.

Poe, 45, a former park ranger, is renovating their Great Falls home

[bvw]

"CONGRATULATIONS!" Said one brave native American to another after adding the scalp of a colonial frontier settlement's young mother to his belt and leaving the surviving babe-in-arms alone in the temporary warmth of cabin, burning down.

"Yes", replied the other brave warrior, "I've lived many moons and know many a fine adult who started in worse situations! What an opportunity I've just provided this blessed youngster!"

[gathersnomoss]

Can't we all just get along? What would Jihadists do?

[txrangerette]

Hey, TwF, I despise the lifestyle and concept of producing children under these circumstances, however, the child is the biological child of Mary Cheney which means the grandchild of Lynne and Dick Cheney. So what are they supposed to do, pretend the child is NOT the child of their daughter? Or look forward with dread to the grandchild because of circumstances? I don't agree with their approach through the years of total acceptance of Mary; however, the reality is what it is and the coming child is their grandchild. So, what is your complaint against them concerning this?

[buck61]

I would rather not see any of them. Just because Mary is the vice presidents daughter does not change the meaning of sin.

The child, if it lives will have a difficult time in society if
the future does not change.