Posted on 02/14/2005 9:46:45 AM PST by metalmanx2j
MARYLAND - Scheduled to speak at an Equality Maryland rally for gay rights today, Maya Keyes, 19, daughter of former Illinois Republican U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes, is speaking publicly for the first time about her sexuality and her soured relationship with her parents. Both Advocate.com and The Washington Post ran articles over the weekend wherein Maya Keyes discussed the situation.
Read Maya Keyes' interview with Advocate.com:
Maya Keyes ends speculation about her sexuality.
On Sunday, Marc Fisher of the Washington Post reported,
Maya Keyes loves her father and mother. She put off college and moved from the family home in Darnestown to Chicago to be with her dad on a grand adventure. Even though she disagrees with him on "almost everything" political, she worked hard for his quixotic and losing campaign for the U.S. Senate.
Now Maya Keyes -- liberal, lesbian and a little lost -- finds herself out on her own. She says her parents -- conservative commentator and perennial candidate Alan Keyes and his wife, Jocelyn -- threw her out of their house, refused to pay her college tuition and stopped speaking to her.
Maya, 19, says her parents cut her off because of who she is -- "a liberal queer." Tomorrow, she will take her private dispute with her dad into the open. She is scheduled to make her debut as a political animal, speaking at a rally in Annapolis sponsored by Equality Maryland, the state's gay rights lobby.
She plans to talk about "what it was like for me growing up as a liberal queer in a very conservative household. I've known so many other people in a position like mine, where their families really don't want much to do with them. Maybe I can help by talking about it."
The issue of Maya Keyes' sexuality came up during the 2004 U.S. Senate race in Illinois when Capitol Fax publisher Rich Miller discovered a blog apparently populated by Maya that discussed her family and her sexuality and included pictures of her kissing another girl. The story remained underground during the Senate campaign thanks in large measure to the campaign's unwillingness to confirm or deny that the blog was indeed Maya's.
According to Fisher's piece in the Washington Post, despite the fact that Maya has been kicked out of her home, a San Francisco-based charity, the Point Foundation, has stepped in to provide the money needed for Maya to begin her studies at Brown University.
Interestingly, Maya Keyes seems to harbor little ill will towards her father. Again, from the Washington Post,
Maya still sounds more sad than angry about her situation. "I wouldn't want to do anything to hurt my father," she says. Like other gay relatives of prominent conservatives, she has struggled with how public to be about her sexuality...Maya is looking for work, planning to move in with friends in Washington or a brother in Boston. She hopes to get back in touch with her mom and dad..."It all seems kind of ridiculous," she says, "because I love him. He's my father."
© 2005 IllinoisLeader.com
Parents miss their kids and most pray they made the right choice but I understand making kids have responsibility along with the rights they want. I think this young woman will be the one to regret her decision. Maybe not about her life style but about being IMO being used by people who really don't care about her to get to the person that does and to promote their agenda. If she had been average Joe Smiths daughter I doubt we would have even have heard of her.
You're a sweetheart.
She can always sue hep parents.
A valid point, at 19 she is just a young pup in a big world and she is definately being used by all sides.
How typically liberal.
This has to be heartbreaking for the Keyes family, and I mean all of them.
My hope is that God, in his great wisdom, will lead the Keyes family members to peace with Him and with one another.
I don't see this situation as an opportunity to bash anyone, and I prefer to let God do His job while I make every effort to do mine and rely on His mercy.
If anyone thinks that his own sin is less obnoxious than the sin of another, he is wrong and doesn't understand the nature of sin.
Thank you for your time.
What a loving household...
We only get one side of the story - Her's. Perhaps there is more to this than just being gay and liberal. Maybe she wants them to embrace her lifestyle IN THEIR HOME. Kids like this can be SOOO nice when the press is talking to them, then we we learn the real story we change our opinion of these kids from poor little, left out, abused child to whiney, didn't get their way, attempting to shake down the famous parents.
I personally believe there is much more to this story.
Well I guess he won't need to worry about her getting an abortion....
Any, I wish her well. Sad story.
If he had a liberal like her in his campaign, so wonder it was so inept. Perhaps it was sabotage rather than incompetence in the campaign organization.
Obviously the radical gays got to her and she chose her lifestyle and it's up to her to turn her life around. Sometimes people have to hit rock bottom to do so and hopefully she can do that before hitting rock bottom.
All yall are hearing is her side. Making a 19 y/o leave home and get a job isn't punishment. It's growing up. It would not have hurt anything but her pride to get a job at McDonalds and put herself thru Junior college.
I'm not sure it is..
Unless you shelter your kids, they will one day face a decision like this. You just hope they make the right decision....
As the old proverb goes "you can lead a horse to water..."
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