Alan Keyes' Daughter Coming Out

(CBS) The 19-year-old daughter of Alan Keyes has a Valentine for the anti-gay rights conservative pundit and frequent Republican candidate.

Maya Marcel-Keyes will be making her first public appearance as a gay activist at a Valentine Day's rally in front of the Maryland State House, says Dan Furmansky, the leader of Equality Maryland, a gay rights group.

Last summer her father, a conservative pundit and frequent Republican candidate, caused a stir during the Republican convention by labeling Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter a sinner and calling homosexuality "selfish hedonism."

"It was kind of strange that he said it like a hypothetical," she told the Washington Post. "It was really kind of unpleasant."

Marcel-Keyes told the Post her parents have thrown her out of the house, stopped speaking to her and refuse to pay for college because she is gay. She said she loves her parents.

Keyes' Web site says he is against "the homosexual rights agenda, including same-sex marriage."

Marcel-Keyes grew up in Darnestown, Md., attended a conservative Catholic school for girls in McLean, Va., spent a year in the south of India advocating tribal rights, and plans to attend Brown University this fall, according to an Equality Maryland press release.

Furmansky told CBSNews.com that Marcel-Keyes would not be speaking to the media ahead of Monday's rally, and probably not afterward, either.

Bloggers have identified her Web site as http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Xmisled0youthX. The author of the blog says it is public and she has nothing to hide.

Yeah. I'm not the one kicking my kid out of the house.

No, the article wasn't biased at all. I'm sure that Keyes and his wife heartlessly kicked the deviant out of the house, into the street, and told her to never darken their straight Christian door ever again.

Or maybe, just maybe, it didn't quite happen like that. Have you considered that? Maybe, they said that they didn't approve of her behavior and that she could not engage in it in their house. As a gay "activist" I'm sure she got up in their faces about it and caused a great deal of contention in the household. Maybe they said that if you don't like our values and refuse to respect us and you reject the way your were raised, then maybe it would be beneficial for all if you found an apartment and stopped living off of our dime.

Indirect evidence:

1. He has not challenged the statement.

2. The other items: kicked out and no college money are documentable. That increases the probability that the whole thing is true.

BTW, this man is a grudge carrier...reparations??? In anyone else it would be called liberal whining.

There have been rumors about this girl for a year. Keyes was perfectly willing to accept her help during his ridiculous senatorial campaign. She even took a semester off from school to work on it.

Now, all of a sudden, Keyes decides he can't tolerate his daughter's behavior in his house.

And, yes. I can fully believe that Keyes would kick a child out of the house and refuse to speak to her.

Gotta keep up that damned-to-hell image he's cultivated.

Sinky, you are confusing love with approval. A parent who loves his or her child has no obligation to support that adult child's lifestyle decisions. If Mr. Keyes' daughter "came out" as a alcoholic, wold he have the obligation to finance her alcoholic lifestyle? How about if she were a pornographer? A bestialist? A polygamist?

I say no. True love has absolutely nothing to do with being nice or making people happy. True love means doing the right thing, not the thing that feels right.

He has not taken a private family matter public. Honest and decent people rarely do.

The adult daughter has taken the matter public and has very clearly announced an family-repudiating agenda in the process.

Your internal evidence doesn't wash unless you already have a personal animus and bias against the father.

You're right, but it's her perspective. And isn't it funny that this all hit around election time, and with colors and all, he chose to speak to, live with and campaign with her.

Look, Keyes has a screw or three loose. But let's make sure he's not entirely cut her off before making total judgement.

I have had great disappointment with my child. but not to this extent.

The only thing I think is absolutely clear here is that you don't care for Alan Keyes. I believe you'd find a way to criticize him regardless of his decision. Do you disagree?

No, I don't particularly care for Keyes because he's a phony.

If Keyes had the same reaction to his daughter that Dick Cheney does, I'd be pleasantly surprised and would say so. It would reflect that his Christianity wasn't just an act.

Alas, I was not surprised.

Personally I'm doubting the "threw her out" statement. My guess is that she is living with someone and they have declined to pay for her housing or her education while she flaunts their beliefs. I'm sure they still love her, but they can love without financially supporting in her life style.

Maya Keyes has zero cause for complaint. Her parents clearly defined their moral standards, which include opposition to lesbianism, yet she freely chose a lifestyle that is in blatant defiance of all they hold dear. There are times when kindness and tolerance are called for, such as when a person is struggling with a vice or admits the wrongfulness of what he is doing. This is not one of them. Mr. and Mrs. Keyes have done the right thing. They can only hope that Maya will repent of her perversion.

And, yes. I can fully believe that Keyes would kick a child out of the house and refuse to speak to her.

Given your obvious intense personal dislike of Keyes you could believe he is a serial murderer on the evidence of triple hearsay culminating with a scribble on a toilet stall.

I'm tuning you out. You have nothing of intelligence to offer.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.