Mary Cheney in a New York Times
piece from last month:
This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate, on either side of a political issue.
Seattle columnist - and gay dad -
Dan Savage, goes in for the kill:
Yes, it’s a baby, not a prop. My kid isn’t a prop either, but that never stopped right-wingers from attacking me and my boyfriend over our decision to become parents. The fitness of same-sex couples to parent is very much part of the political debate thanks to the GOP and the Christian bigots that make up its lunatic "base." You’re a Republican, Mary, you worked on both of your father’s campaigns, and you kept your mouth clamped shut while Karl Rove and George Bush ran around the country attacking gay people, gay parents, and our children in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006. It’s a little late to declare the private choices of gays and lesbians unfit for public debate...
And so long as your party insists on making the fitness of homosexuals to marry or parent - or, hell, exist - a subject of public debate...your decision to become a parent is germane and very much fit for public discussion... The GOP’s selective embrace of some pregnant dykes (only knocked-up lesbians with powerful connections will be treated with respect) is a disconnect that demands answers. From you, from your father, from your venomous mother, from the idiot president you helped elect. Is that fair? Maybe not. Want to blame someone? Go look in the mirror.
Take it from me, Mary: Explaining to your child, after he heard something hateful on the radio, that his family is very much "real"... and that his parents are, in fact, fit to be his parents is as distressing and emotionally exhausting as it is unnecessary. And I blame you.
