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
"pictures please..."
Why? Do you get off to two women kissing? How odd.
19? She is just going thru a phase/fade, whatever. I've seen this in young girls quite often. No big deal.
If he's like most dad's he's watching her and will be there to pick her up when she hits bottom.
19 seems a bit old for a passing phase. And obviously it is NOT a passing phase in every case, since many people go on to be lifelong homosexuals.
What a shame.
Liberals will make hay over her tragic lifestyle choice.
She is also emotionally disturbed. She also needs help.
NO ONE, I repeat no one is born that way.
I'm sure he loves her and he's probably not happy about having to do this. The problem these days is everyone accepts their kids no matter what they do which doesn't help them in the long run.
Homosexuality is not like cigarettes. Homosexuality is not like the mumps. It's not an addiction nor is it an illness, it's just the way that some people are... and it not only doesn't matter if it's nature vs nurture, it's just none of anyone's business. It's not even someone's parents' business. As my political hero said, "the state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation."
Mark my words, if you are overly interested in the sexuality of another person, you're the one with a serious problem.
The point is that, homosexuality is not a "mental disease". It may be a lifestyle with which we disagree (as I do). But, I could never kick my kid out of the house because he/ she is gay. I would love and support them no matter what...as the Cheney's have done with their daughter.
Mary Cheney is a 30-something woman who lives on her own and is responsible for her own choices. Ms. Keyes was living at home. Comparing the two young women is not fair.
The Keyes family had every right to refuse to allow their daughter to live under their roof if she was not living by their rules. The Keyes are just doing what most responsible parents do: make their adult children take responsibility for their adult actions.
I believe it is Ms. Keyes who could learn something from Mary Cheney about keeping her private life private and not trying to use it to get attention for herself or embarrassing her parents.
I can think of nothing that would make me disown my child. I went through a 'phase' during college (mostly partying and experimenting) and if my mother had not loved me, supported (and PRAYED for me) we wouldn't have had the beautiful relationship we did and she couldn't have been the fabulous grandmother to my three children.
...who may be an idiot and a waste of perfectly good DNA, but is apparently not homosexual. Or I take it his wife would say he's not.
I guess the joke is on me... After the GI bill, working 2 jobs, and 10 grand in student loans to pay for college, I now know that all I had to be was liberal and gay.
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We should not forget the eloquence and power with which he spoke, and how his radio programme was "Impeachment Central". He deserves at least a modicum of respect and courtesy now that he's fallen onto hard times.
Regards, Ivan
If my daughter suddenly became a rabid pro-abort, I don't think I'd have much to do with her...how could I, when I see abortion as murder and she would see it as an "empowering" sacrement.
I'm not saying being a homosexual relates in the same way, even though it IS a sin, but throw in the liberal component, and I'm not sure that Keyes isn't doing the right thing.
Ed
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