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Too little, too late: Mary Cheney turned her back on the LGBT community
and now tries to sell a book about the experience. |
For six long years, Mary Cheney backpedaled from speaking out against Republican
attempts to write her out of the Constitution, yet emerged from the musty
closet just in time to peddle her new book, which hits stores the second
week of May. Cowed Mary now wants to be Proud Mary, but it’s too late,
for she has already sold us down the river.
From the comfortable confines of the VP mansion, Mary watched the LGBT community
get bashed a million times. Yet, she remained a veritable pet rock until
she received a $1 million dollar advance to pry open her mouth.
Cheney unveiled a major public relations blitz for “Now It’s
My Turn: A Daughter’s Chronicle of Political Life,” but the PR
should stand for Pitiful Rationalizations. Instead of garnering sympathy,
she has gathered contempt for her meek attempt to justify her silence. She
and her family had a unique opportunity to use the bully pulpit to educate
Americans, and they failed miserably.
For example, in the 2000 campaign, Lynne Cheney bitterly replied to a question
about her daughter’s sexual orientation with a sneering denial, “Mary
has never declared such a thing.”
Of course, maybe it was technically true that Mary had not “declared” she
was gay, as few people actually stand on a mountain top and make such a decree.
But Mary had come out to her parents and worked for Coors as a gay liaison,
which included traveling with Mr. Leather.
Interestingly, Mr. Leather was omitted from her book. I’m sure he was
crushed when his index search came up blank. I can picture him standing in
Borders wearing assless chaps franticly flipping though the end pages: “Milosevic…Missing
WMD…Morning After Pill…Hmm, maybe it’s under ‘L?’” I
guess there is no need to mention the S&M king when the White House bound,
gagged and harnessed Mary better than he ever could.
Vice President Dick Cheney was as disloyal as Lynne. During a Bush State
of the Union address, he clapped as the president expressed support for a
constitutional amendment barring same-sex unions. Talk about family values!
The ultimate slap in the face, however, came during the vice presidential
debate when the democratic nominee John Edwards mentioned that Mary Cheney
was a lesbian. According to Mary, she mouthed an expletive at Edwards from
the front row of the audience seating, while her mother and sister maturely
stuck out their tongues at him.
Soon after, in a presidential debate, John Kerry also said that Mary was
a lesbian. The response was swift and vociferous, with Lynne Cheney accusing
Kerry of a “tawdry” political trick.
Apparently, Lynne thinks her daughter is “tawdry” simply for
being a lesbian. The shame, disgust and embarrassment were evident by her
choice of words and in the disdainful manner in which she uttered them.
The appropriate response to a candidate calling an open lesbian a lesbian
is to yawn as if it is no big deal. Why exactly were the Cheney’s so
hot and bothered over the truth?
Most reprehensible was Mary’s bafflingly defiant reaction, accusing
the Democrats of using the issue for political gain. Perhaps, she was correct,
but Kerry and Edwards were actually trying to offer Mary and her partner
relative equality under the law.
Was it not for the sake of political gain when her father and Bush cynically
pushed for a federal Constitutional Amendment and also spearheaded 11 divisive
anti-marriage state Amendments to bolster their reelection bid in 2004? Did
Mary mouth expletives at Dick and George when they won reelection on the
backs of her and her life partner?
To the contrary, the dutiful daughter worked tirelessly to reelect the terrible
twosome and now we face another vote on a federal Constitutional amendment
this summer.
Thanks Mary!
Predictably, sycophants are coming out of the woodwork to cheer her on and
snag her for fundraisers, as if Mary is a hero instead of a zero.
“Log Cabin Republicans applaud Mary Cheney for sharing her personal
and family story,” groveled Log Cabin President Patrick Guerriero.
The most gripping part of Mary’s story is when she admits that she
was so distraught over a break-up with her girlfriend that she crashed her
car and came out to her parents. Unfortunately, many young adults are not
as lucky when they engage in self-destructive behavior often associated with
coming out in a homophobic society. Mary knew from experience that she could
have helped put the breaks on such suicidal conduct. Instead, she let today’s
youth crash and burn.
I never thought I’d say this, but I agree with Alan Keyes when he said
Mary Cheney is a “selfish hedonist.” It took a big fat book advance
before she stepped out to ostensibly advance gay rights. While I can understand
family loyalty, she also had an obligation to defend her LGBT family — and
she let us down. |
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