Posted on 02/15/2005 11:16:43 PM PST by Keyes2000mt
The recent revelations regarding Maya Keyes, the daughter of Ambassador Alan Keyes came as no surprise to me. I’m one of the few thousand who knew about her romantic relationship with a young woman from New Jersey, but I believed it was none of anyone’s business. The more I read the blogs of Maya and her friends, the more I became convinced the struggles of young people with their identity were not intended to be viewed by the world.
I’ve kept silence and have committed the matter to prayer. Now that a host of media outlets are reporting the Maya Keyes’ story, there’s not much point in keeping silence and some of the misleading information appearing in the press has to be answered with truth. My goal is not to harm Maya, only to show where certain facts have been distorted.
1) The Lesbian?
Stories continually point to Maya’s self-proclaimed Lesbianism, but there’s more to it than that. Maya broke off her romance with the woman who along with her, was plastered across the leftwing of the blogosphere last fall. However, another love was just around the corner.
On her blog on November 22nd, she posted the following entry:
I got back yesterday from California, where I had a blast^1000 spending time with the "Aldo", who I already miss so much I'm ready to get on the next plane back to San Fran…
When we finished getting intoxicated with natural beauty we returned to somewhere I felt far less at home - Travis Air Force Base. Yes, yes, I know. An anarchist staying on a military base... quite incongruous, I know. It is just evidence of how much I love the "Aldo" that I would set foot on the place. [And evidence of how much the "Aldo" loves me that he would put up with me for that ten days, through the amazing insanity - but that's a whole nother story.]
*sighs*
He is magic, and magic with fuzzy hair - where on the East Coast can I find that?
Is Maya Keyes intentionally deceiving gay rights activists in order to get housing and a guaranteed Ivy League education? No, like a lot people her age, she’s confused and searching for her identity. Sadly, in the midst of a confusing time in her life, political opportunists in the gay movement are ready to exploit her vulnerability, naiveté, and a difficult family situation for their own ends.
2) Kicked out for being Gay
The second issue with Maya’s story is that various media reports have said her father kicked her out for being a lesbian. The story is worth some consideration. Many have openly wondered with what came out in the campaign why Keyes would wait until now to kick Maya out.
As I watched events unfold back in September, I harkened back to a statement Keyes made to the City Club of Chicago when asked about the role of gays in the GOP. Keyes reminded the audience all are sinners and then said, “Which one of us wants there to be a heartless rejection of our other abilities, of our other virtues, of our other qualities because we have sometimes stumbled?...There's no contradiction between defending the institution of marriage and understanding that even when you look at somebody and you know that they're in sin you can still remember that they are children of God, because God remembers and you treat them as such and respect them for those that He would always value in them. And that's why Christ spent so much time with sinners. He didn't just see their sin, he saw the possibility of their salvation and so should we." During the months that have followed, Keyes practiced what he preached and continues to. Despite the overblown rhetoric, Alan Keyes didn’t kick Maya out for being gay and my source on that is none other than Maya herself.
In her Blog on January 30, 2005, she wrote: “A couple days ago I got my official two-week warning I have to be out of this apartment; so finally for real I'm getting cut off. I got no severance or anything like that from my sudden termination of employment (don't I have freedom of speech? the right to protest Bush without losing my job? Hehe... most people would think that working under a parent would be security but for me it's quite the opposite.) “
Well, first of all, the two weeks notice gives us less the picture of Dr. Keyes tossing Maya’s stuff on the curb and more of him telling her it’s time to get out on her own. Secondly, her participation in the counter-inaugural in Washington, DC is listed as both the reason for her being fired and being thrown out of her apartment. Both actions in this light seem more than reasonable.
You can’t work for a Conservative organization by day and join anarchist far-leftists by night in opposing the President. It’s a conflict of interest that raises the specter of whether you can be trusted with sensitive information. ABC7 news reported a family friend told them Maya has not been barred from the family’s residence only from the apartment Keyes and the staff of his new organization are using and she was, at the time, living in.
More to the point, getting involved in subversive groups can be destructive to your career if you want a job that requires a background check. Maya may not realize this, but as a former member of the National Security Council, Dr. Keyes must understand how such rash youthful actions can come back to bite people when they’re older. Perhaps, he hoped that his action would serve as a reality check.
Family Matters
As to whose right in the issues between Maya and Alan Keyes, it’s not really for us to say. Some, have harked back to Keyes’ statement on Mary Cheney to suggest divine retribution, as if God reached down out of the sky and turned Maya Keyes into a lesbian in order to punish Alan Keyes. Others have said they’re not surprised by the reports because of the type of man Alan Keyes is and that Keyes fully deserves this. If there’s any justice in this world, such people will be judged by the opinions of their disgruntled 19-year old children.
The challenge of parenting is daunting and sometimes requires tough love and hard choices. Alan Keyes isn’t the only parent to have to tell a child they had to move out. There’s more to this story than the media would have us believe, because it’s the story of a family and there’s nothing more complex. As such, we should defer judgment on the way Alan Keyes handles his family life to God.
Bump
Sorry folks, being confused and searching for your identity has nothing to do with being gay.
If SEX is you 'identity' you need a shrink
I see this is one of those threads where people find a quibling point and ignore the main point of the article. As this describes, how the media has irresponsibly told a false story, I find that more than a bit irritating.
Alan Keyes has a tragic flaw. He says out loud what many think, but won't admit to.
So people don't get into homosexuality because they're struggling with issues of their identity? No, not everyone whose confused or searching for their identity goes down that road, but a lot of people who've been abused have.
If we posted an article everytime the media did that....
I'll go ahead and post the response that I posted on Adam's Blog:
You've got your story and you're sticking to it. Honestly, I think you're being used by poltical activists. As far as I see it, this is a family feud and doesn't belong in the media. Your parents would probably have a lot to say if they were the type to air their dirty laundry. I have ongoing problems with people in my family, but I wouldn't discuss it at a press conference, even if someone did care.
Furthermore, I will assure you that I've not been merely reading little tidbits of your blog but most posts that have been written going back since September (and some before that). You can spin this anyway you'd like, but I will continue to keep you and your family in prayer, because I don't know who did what.
I do know one thing. The username alankeyes (who is actually your father) is not going to come onto this thread or any other and tell his side. Having been in the middle of many family disputes, I know there's always more than one side.
While far removed from your upbringing, I'm reminded of a story more than a decade ago when my family was travelling the country ministering. One of my brothers had been left to guard our bus (where we lived). My brother proceeded to vandalize the park and be a general troublemaker as he was unsupervised for the first time in his life. While we were in the South, the manager of the park the trailer was at in Montana was threatening to remove the bus due to my brother's behavior. My father kicked my brother out and had another brother take over staying in the bus so that it'd be there when we got back.
Well, the first brother went and told neighbors how he'd been so ill-used that he got many concerned neighbors together to call my dad and tell how he'd acted so horribly.
They knew so much and yet so little. They knew one side. I can't help but think that such a situation exists now with one side being told and no context.
the Keyes family issues do NOT belong in a public forum unless they inject them there. If they do, then it's public. If not, then its none of anyone's business.
I would agree that the Keyes family business doesn't belong in the public forum. I haven't injected it, Maya has.
It's not your job to provide that context. It's Alan's. The fact that he has chosen not to respond publicly to his daughter's charges makes it appear that she is telling the truth. At this point, there is no substantive reason not to believe her, is there?
First of all, I can't help but think there's more dignity in not responding directly to this. I think even asking him to get into this is basically asking that he lower himself to the level of a guest on Jerry Springer. I think it's unjust to expect someone to descend to that level or be judged guilty which appears to be the standard you're setting.
Secondly, as the article explained, we've got a very big contradiction in the reason why Maya was kicked out and she can't really explain it away. If she was cut off because she was a homosexual, then why did she stay in her dad's Chicago apartment until after she participated in the counter-inaugural.
Simply put, the lack of context itself and the fact we're dealing with a family dispute casts a shadow over anything we're hearing from Maya or the Press. Frankly, it's really only God's to judge.
In the end, it could be that Keyes could have done more or done better as a parent. It could be there are some issues we don't know about, but that's it, we have one side on the issue and both sides will be colored by their pain and their feelings.
Do you think Maya has been abused, then?
P.S. Your writing career may be more successful if you'll learn the difference between "whose" and "who's."
ping for later
Ping
I think he DOES owe us an explanation. First, he is a leader and secondly, he's always said, yes stated that he would not remain silent on matters that are important. The situation with his daughter is importantant. The man has staked a claim in absolutes. If you absolutely do something, the absolute result will occur. There is a problem with his daughter that the absolute inputs did not equal the absolute outputs. If you believe as does Alan that Maya's sexuality is simply a matter of choice, then some input was faulty. If the equation of absolutes is in fact valid, then some input was in error. If the faulty input is not discovered to show and teach people not to repeat it, then Alan has missed the mark then he has so often stated that he will not remain silent with regard to matters of importance.
Hardly, your reactions are of the stereotypical petulant child. Puling and whining about how most parents would be thrilled to have a kid as fabulous as you....please.
One day you will think back on your actions now with deep shame and regret, and you will ask for your family's forgiveness. You will receive that forgiveness, but I'm placing this as a little marker, a witness in the Old Testament sense, because you should remember the damage your vanity single-handedly did to your family in this period.
I agree, besides there aren't many people who have more of a reputation for contentiousness than "daughter."
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