Posted on 05/14/2006 5:03:17 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
The lesbian daughter of US Vice President Dick Cheney hit out at President George W. Bush's support for a constitutional amendment proscribing gay marriage.
Mary Cheney, 37, told Fox News Sunday that the idea, which was backed strongly by Bush's Republican Party during his 2004 re-election campaign and continues to be promoted by many conservatives today, was "a bad piece of legislation".
"I think that is what the federal marriage amendment is, it is writing discrimination into the constitution.
"It is writing discrimination into the constitution and, as I say, it is fundamentally wrong."
"I would also hope that no one would think about trying to amend the constitution as a political strategy," she added.
Cheney, who worked on her father's campaign staff in 2004, said she very nearly quit the reelection effort over the issue.
In the wake of controversial moves to make same-sex marriage legal in California and other states, conservatives pushed strongly to have the constitution amended to define marriage as strictly between a man and a woman.
The effort failed in mid-2004, but a number of individual states passed their own initiatives to restrict marriage to traditional male-female couples.
Cheney, who has just published a book, "It's My Turn", covering in part her experience during the campaign, said she was troubled by the stance of the party she was backing.
"President Bush obviously feels very strongly about this issue ... Quite honestly, it was an issue I had some trouble with, as I talk about in the book. I came very close to quitting my job on the re-election campaign over this very issue."
But she said she was also "very angry" when Bush and Dick Cheney's opponents in the campaign, Senators John Kerry and John Edwards, challenged the Bush stance by publicly pointing out that Mary Cheney was a lesbian.
"It was a cheap and blatant political ploy" when Edwards used her as an example in debating the issue with her father, Mary Cheney said.
Speaking separately on Fox News Sunday, Bush's wife Laura noted the issue of gay marriage still sparked debate across the country.
"I don't think it should be used as a campaign tool, obviously," she said.
"But I do think it's something that people in the United States want to debate. And it requires a lot of sensitivity to talk about the issue, a lot of sensitivity."
I'm bettin' on straight whiskey rock-gut slams - no sissy beer. and a complimentary copy of Mary C.'s book, of course.
...and a shrine to Bob Vila. He's a god among lesbians for his do-it-yourself talent and fashion sense.
I know a bunch of gay couples with kids. None of the kids are gay. If it's a learned behavior, the kids are slow learners.
They have to indoctrinate -- they wouldn't "increase" otherwise.
Viewed this way, the practice seems parasitic to a healthy family and hence a healthy state. I'm sure it's been said a thousand times before in a thousand different societies.
It is not discriminatory to deny homosexuals the right to marry. Homosexuals are afforded exactly the same right as heterosexuals; they can marry one person of the opposite sex. Homosexuals enjoy full citizenship rights; they can vote, own or transfer property, name life insurance beneficiaries, and grant medical power of attorney, among other rights. Marriage has been understood and defined for centuries and throughout civilization as the union between a man and a woman, instituted for the continuance of life and to best protect and provide for children. Government and society grant benefits and protection to a man and a woman in marriage because of their biological potential to bear and effectively raise the next generation. Even childless couples or infertile couples always have the potential to procreate. Homosexual couplings always do not. If societies deviate from the standard of marriage as a child-based institution, they open the door to any kind of marriage. When homosexuals are not allowed to marry each other, they suffer no more discrimination than do bigamists, polygamists, or people who wish to marry children.
oh crap, really? I like Bob Vila...hummm...
I remember reading something somewhere that said adoptees of gay couples were very slightly more likely to be gay then the general average but the number was something really small.
The reason I remember that, is because that same study found a boatload of assorted problems for kids who lived with gay families, i.e. drug use, depression, suicide, problems with the law, etc.
I agree with you. Well said.
Well, that's one of the signs. Another sign is ownership of at least two Bob Marley albums.
Now that you mention it, I've seen lesbians who actually look like Bob Vila. Maybe it's intentional. Hmmmm.
FNC does the story about Mary Cheny's "look at me the homosexual" THEN they do a story about adoption....
Your conclusion has in fact ALREADY has been demonstrated.
There was a study of over 200 lesbians out of New Zealand. If found that to be the exact fact.
I think the book was timed specifically to be a hit piece on the federal marriage amendment. We need this amendment to over rule all the judges and take this issue out of the hands of the American Bar Association.
ping
You've got a Steven-Wright-like sense of humor.
well said!
does Barry Manilow count?
And you are pinging me, why?
I believe you get beat up by both lesbians and gay guys for owning barry manilow. Best to hide it in a Frampton Comes Alive sleeve, nobody'll look in there.
Seriously tho, do you get the feeling that some people would support Edwards and Kerry and their psycho beast ways of campaigning than agree with Mary Cheney?
Thank you. Well put.
That needs to be said again. In bold.
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