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.

[Zeppelin]

Heather's gonna be mad when she finds out the baby isnt hers! =P

[Wallace T.]

Personally, I think that like or not, gay marriage will be legal eventually, simply because of the tide of individual cases like this making it more and more acceptable.

The sad part is that you may be right. America and the West may fall from the effects of immorality, fixation on immediate self-gratification, and decadence. Perhaps we can hope that the Hispanics and Asians that are coming to our shores will establish a better and more moral society than the whites have done once the effects of their uncontrolled immigration and higher birth rate relegate those of European ancestry to a minority.

[drjimmy]

If this was Chelsea Clinton (or some other Democrat), she'd be on the talkshows promoting lesbian parenting as the new wave of progressivism. The difference is between a private life publicized inadvertently (because Dick Cheney is VP) and a life which is intentionally directed to make publicity and push an agenda.

You must have missed Mary Cheney's appearances on ABC's "Primetime" and the "Late Show with David Letterman" last May, promoting her autobiography "Now It's My Turn." And after the 2004 vice presidential debate (the one in which John Edwards mentioned her being a lesbian), when Mary Cheney and her partner both appeared on the stage with the rest of the Cheney family. And when Mary served on the board of the Republican Unity Coalition, an organization that says its purpose was "about one big idea: making homosexuality a 'non-issue' for the Republican Party." Of course there's also before she got involved in politics, when she served as a gay and lesbian outreach coordinator for Coors Brewing Company.

It's funny, the knots some folks here are twisting themselves into in order to come up with some reason to give Mary Cheney a pass on this. The incorrect notion that she doesn't "flaunt" her homosexuality is one of the most silly. I think dogbyte12 in post #96 best hit the nail on the head, regarding the hypocrisy issue. My opinion is that Mary Cheney should be given a pass because it's none of my business either way, whether she flaunts it or not.

[No.6]

"But I also believe that Mary Cheney's decision to conceive with her partner while her father is still in the spotlight in some ways does more to promote gay parenting than mere activism, but making it seem normal."

Could be right. The point I was going after is that Mz. Cheney doesn't appear to be seeking the limelight to push the homosexual agenda. I don't think she's choosing lesbianism or getting pregnant for that purpose. I could be wrong but I'm just basing that guess on her prior actions when the media came her way.

[dr luba]

I have a friend in a long term, committed relationship. Devout Christian. He and his partner adopted three boys a few years ago. They have formed a happy family.

Now you may say that they "took these children from a potential mom and dad." In theory, they did. But these kids had been in foster care for years, shuttled from home to home, and split up several times. There was no one waiting to adopt them. No one wanted them. Not their biological parents, not anyone else. They would have aged out of foster care eventually, and perhaps ended up on the streets.

Instead the boys are together, part of a family, in a home where they are loved.

But according to you, this is wrong, because the parents are gay.

[dr luba]

I gotta get off this subject, I can not believe people here call themselves "Conservatives"???????????

You're right, those damned hippies are ruining it for real consevatives like you:

At 85, after a life in politics spanning five decades (he retired from the Senate in 1987), Mr. Conservative has found himself an unlikely new career: as a gay rights activist. While that's not his sole pursuit – he returned to Capitol Hill yesterday to testify in favor of scenic overflights of the Grand Canyon – in recent years he's championed homosexuals serving in the military and has worked locally to stop businesses in Phoenix from hiring on the basis of sexual orientation. This month he signed on as honorary co-chairman of a drive to pass a federal law preventing job discrimination against homosexuals. The effort, dubbed Americans Against Discrimination, is being spearheaded by the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the influential gay lobbying organization.

"The big thing is to make this country, along with every other country in the world with a few exceptions, quit discriminating against people just because they're gay," Barry Goldwater asserts. "You don't have to agree with it, but they have a constitutional right to be gay. And that's what brings me into it."

Funny thing, there was a time when being a conservative meant keeping the government OUT of our bedrooms and private lives!

[TlalocW]

We need to clean our house of these people, and I'm not necessarily talking about the homos in the GOP either. We all know that homosexuality isn't genetic; it's an abomination against God. The only reason we've got all these kids of famous conservatives (Dick Cheney, Alan Keyes, Randall Terry, Phyllis Schaffly, etc.) is because they were not good parents!

It's time these people and we face facts - they're always going on and on and giving lip service to how children need a mom and a dad and how homosexuality will destroy traditional marriage, but when it came time to walk the walk, they were absent.

If Phyllis Schaffly had taken her own advice and stayed home instead of creating a career of going out and debating feminists maybe her son wouldn't have turned out gay.

If Lynne Cheney had stayed home instead of working to create a career that would lead to her writing homo-erotic love stories and co-hosting Crossfire, Mary would be wed to a good conservative man right now.

If Alan Keyes didn't sound like an effeminate Marvin the Martian, maybe his daughter would be on the straight and narrow.

And while it was admirable that Randall Terry adopted all those kids, maybe if he hadn't had that gay looking afro during his Operation Rescue days, he wouldn't have sent mixed signals to his kids - turning one gay and the other Muslim.

We have seen the enemy, and it is us.

TlalocW

[SeaBiscuit]

Yeah, I guess if you try to hide a sin then it's not really a sin... Hypocrisy is right.

[Battle Hymn of the Republic]

devout christian who is gay?

[Wormwood]

Funny thing, there was a time when being a conservative meant keeping the government OUT of our bedrooms and private lives!

That was before the base decided that the Bible should be the party platform.

[Wormwood]

devout christian who is gay?

I know a few myself.

[SeaBiscuit]

"Funny thing, there was a time when being a conservative meant keeping the government OUT of our bedrooms and private lives!"

Yeah, that's what Bill Clinton would've hoped too.

[petitfour]

It's conservative to believe that the government has no business meddling in the private lives of citizens.

It's human nature "to point fingers and sneer at the private decisions people make about their lives."

Miss Cheney is free to be a lesbian, and she's free to become impregnated by artificial means. Others are free to be critical of her decisions and to snub her if they wish.

[Howlin]

You must have missed Mary Cheney's appearances on ABC's "Primetime" and the "Late Show with David Letterman" last May, promoting her autobiography "Now It's My Turn." And after the 2004 vice presidential debate (the one in which John Edwards mentioned her being a lesbian), when Mary Cheney and her partner both appeared on the stage with the rest of the Cheney family. And when Mary served on the board of the Republican Unity Coalition, an organization that says its purpose was "about one big idea: making homosexuality a 'non-issue' for the Republican Party." Of course there's also before she got involved in politics, when she served as a gay and lesbian outreach coordinator for Coors Brewing Company.

And in only the last thing you mentioned did she say ANYTHING at all about being a lesbian.

What would you have her do, just disappear off the face of the earth?

Never mind. I think I know the answer to that one.

[No.6]

"You must have missed Mary Cheney's appearances..."

Yea, I did. Guess you can ignore my prior comment as, if your notes are right, she has been pushing the activism route.

[Howlin]

Funny thing, there was a time when being a conservative meant keeping the government OUT of our bedrooms and private lives!

I fondly remember that time.

That was back when they thought the less government intruded into our lives, the better.

That was back when our side complained about the LIBERALS sticking their collective noses in our business.

Now we have our very own busybodies who wish to cram THEIR views down people's throats.

I can't decide whether it's humorous, hypocritical, or just disgusting.

[atlaw]

Signed up today just for that bilious little performance, eh?

[Howlin]

I agree with you assessment.

[petitfour]

Interesting. I didn't know Goldwater did that. I didn't know until recently that Congressman Jim Kolbe had been a page for Goldwater wayyyy back in the 1960s either. Jim Kolbe also served in the military.

[Coronal]

"I can't decide whether it's humorous, hypocritical, or just disgusting."

I think that it would be all of the above.