Posted on 12/06/2006 8:50:01 PM PST by freedomdefender
Conservative leaders voiced dismay Wednesday at news that Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Dick Cheney, is pregnant, while a gay-rights group said the vice president faces "a lifetime of sleepless nights" for serving in an administration that has opposed recognition of same-sex couples.
Mary Cheney, 37, and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, 45, are expecting a baby in late spring, said Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for the vice president.
"The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation" to the arrival of their sixth grandchild, McBride said.
Mary Cheney was an aide to her father during the 2004 campaign, and now is vice president for consumer advocacy at AOL. She and Poe moved from Colorado to Virginia a year ago to be closer to the Cheney family.
Family Pride, which advocates on behalf of gay and lesbian families, noted that Virginia last month became one of 27 states with a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
"Unless they move to a handful of less restrictive states, Heather will never be able to have a legal relationship with her child," said Family Pride executive director Jennifer Chrisler.
The couple "will quickly face the reality that no matter how loved their child will be. ... he or she will never have the same protections that other children born to heterosexual couples enjoy," Chrisler said. "Grandfather Cheney will no doubt face a lifetime of sleepless nights as he reflects on the irreparable harm he and his administration have done to the millions of American gay and lesbian parents and their children."
For years, Mary Cheney's openness about her sexual orientation had posed a dilemma for conservative activists who admire Dick Cheney's stance on many issues but consider homosexuality a sin.
Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America described the pregnancy as "unconscionable."
"It's very disappointing that a celebrity couple like this would deliberately bring into the world a child that will never have a father," said Crouse, a senior fellow at the group's think tank. "They are encouraging people who don't have the advantages they have."
Crouse said there was no doubt that the news would, in conservatives' eyes, be damaging to the Bush administration, which already has been chided by some leaders on the right for what they felt was halfhearted commitment to anti-abortion and anti-gay-rights causes in this year's general election.
Carrie Gordon Earll, a policy analyst for the conservative Christian ministry Focus on the Family, expressed empathy for the Cheney family but depicted the newly announced pregnancy as unwise.
"Just because you can conceive a child outside a one-woman, one-man marriage doesn't mean it's a good idea," said. "Love can't replace a mother and a father."
The vice president's office declined to elaborate on the circumstances of Mary Cheney's pregnancy.
The news was welcomed by the president of the largest national gay-rights group, Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign.
"Mary and Heather's decision to have a child is an example that families in America come in all different shapes and sizes," he said. "The bottom line is that a family is made up of love and commitment."
Well isn't that special. Is the father handing out cigars? Oh wait, there isn't a father - or, there is, but I guess he donated through a test tube.
"Crouse said there was no doubt that the news would, in conservatives' eyes, be damaging to the Bush administration, "
And that would be absolutely ridiculous. How exactly does the Bush administration have any control over her?
The news was welcomed by the president of the largest national gay-rights group, Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign.
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No surprise -- as a father of two, I think it is SELFISH for gays to get pregnant without a father to help raise the child -- it is quite selfish, in fact.
I don't get the righteous indignation directed toward Bush from some quarters over this. WTF is Bush supposed to do about it, yell at her? And what are the Cheneys supposed to do, quit loving their daughter? I'm quite certain the kid will turn out just fine with Dick and Lynn as grandparents.
But that doesn't mean that Mary herself can't be criticized.
Just because ones child does something outrageous and irresponsible, not to mention selfish, does that mean a parent (and a high elected official) is supposed to fully support the decision, champion it and celebrate it from the highest rooftops ? Give me a break.
she is free to make whatever choices she wants, that's a separate issue from what society as a whole must be willing to codify into law regarding her personal choices. she should not be demonized or criticized in any way, that simply marginalizes conservatives as being the "judgemental religious right" crowd.
I wish her well, in a age where so many women abort their babies - she at least wants to give birth to one.
You can't stop people from having babies because they're lesbians...you do know that, don't you? And you do know that straight people have artificial insemination too, don't you?
that's because the "social conservatives" are too judgemental. what do they want Dick Cheney do to, abort the baby?
just leave her alone - her decision to have a baby has nothing to do with whether gay marriage needs to be codified into law by the rest of us.
I wish her well, in a age where so many women abort their babies - she at least wants to give birth to one
I suspect it was a planned pregnancy.
I'm with you there. I don't think same-sex couples should be able to adopt, and fertility clinics shouldn't be AE-ing them either, as appears to be the case here. But I don't understand the hand-wringing directed at W or the Cheneys. There's plenty of legitimate reasons to be angry with Bush, and this ain't one of 'em.
Reagan Jr. makes you wish Nancy had a headache the night they conceived. Michael is the only real son of Ronnie, Sr., heart and soul, even if he isn't blood.
indeed. whatever it is, its her choice.
"Mary Cheney, 37, and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, 45, are expecting a baby in late spring,"
""Mary and Heather's decision to have a child"
I failed Biology (among many other courses), does this mean Cheney carries/uses the other's embryo?
Other then that..this isn't a big deal...I put it in the "Who Cares" category....
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