By Sean Kosofsky
Mary Cheney dragged the canoe to the water, gathered her money and sold us down the river.
Part of me wanted to be a lot more understanding of her and the position she was in, being the daughter of the anti-Christ. I felt reserved about my anger toward her for betraying the gay community. But then I saw her on national television selling a book and trying to reconcile her cowardice; framing it as a "personal path." I almost snapped my remote control in half.
Mary Cheney has hurt America. On May 4, Cheney went on ABC's "Primetime" to finally "break the silence" about why she has spent years of her adult, openly gay life working to elect and promote an administration that discriminates, kills, pollutes, wiretaps, covers up and actively works to harm the poor and under-served in our country. Cheney, you see, has written a book. She is now peddling these pandering pages to folks who think there is some deeper story behind how she turned her back on all things decent and dignified to support her daddy.
Not only has she lost any integrity as a leader, as a lesbian and as a sane Republican, she has made a conscious decision to work for a presidential ticket that has waged a smear campaign on her, her community and the people of the United States.
This goes way beyond being a "gay Republican," which at least is working for greater inclusion within the party. She has done nothing at all to be an advocate within the party to change the climate that uses gay people as a political football to win elections. The most anyone can say is that she was responsible for Dick Cheney, who has no power over anything in the marriage debate, coming out against the Federal Marriage Amendment.
Mary Cheney actually continued campaigning for this president, even after the Log Cabin Republicans refused to endorse him. This was after he waged an unprecedented national campaign to distract Americans with a constitutional effort to block gay families from full citizenship. She was a part of the effort to stop gay families from being able to make next of kin medical decisions and have joint custodial rights over their children and receive Social Security benefits. This wasn't just Gary Glenn or Jerry Falwell. This was a gay woman who knew it was wrong and still did it.
Where was her spine to say, "Dad, I love you but I cannot be a part of an administration that wants to funnel tax dollars to churches while allowing them to discriminate against gays. I cannot support packing the Supreme Court with people that will actively dismantle my rights as a gay woman and I cannot support an administration that embraces Karl Rove and all that he has done to hurt people like me in this country. I will instead stay out of this race because of my dignity."
By pushing her new book on the talk show circuit she is now profiting off of this hypocrisy. Diane Sawyer threw her softballs and didn't ask her point-blank to explain herself. The cutesie-wootsie way Sawyer handled the interview contributed little to our understanding of why this privileged woman chose a path of safety and remained an "A-list" gay at the White House, while others were left out to dry. How much did her loyalty cost her and us? The damage cannot be quantified.
Cheney even praised Bush, saying, "I think he's a very good man." When Sawyer asked Cheney if she planned to marry her partner she replied conveniently, "Well, from my perspective, Heather and I already are married… we're just waiting for state and federal law to catch up with us."
WHAT? How can she be waiting for the law to catch up with her when she is throwing banana peels, speed bumps and Tom Delay in its path? The sad part is that Cheney gives Republicans a false notion that they are an inclusive party because she happens to be Dick's kid. I hope that at every stop on Mary Cheney's book tour she is met by a gay couple that reminds her of the pain she has caused. It's a mess that even Halliburton cannot clean up.
