There's Something About Mary

In response to the question: "Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?" Kerry's response was:

KERRY: We're all God's children, Bob. And I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's being who she was, she's being who she was born as.

I think if you talk to anybody, it's not choice. I've met people who struggled with this for years, people who were in a marriage because they were living a sort of convention, and they struggled with it.

And I've met wives who are supportive of their husbands or vice versa when they finally sort of broke out and allowed themselves to live who they were, who they felt God had made them.

I think we have to respect that.

Lynne Cheney, Mary's mom, responded to that moment this way:

Lynne Cheney issued her post-debate rebuke to a cheering crowd outside Pittsburgh. "The only thing I can conclude is he is not a good man. I'm speaking as a mom," she said. "What a cheap and tawdry political trick."

I guess I won't be the first person to point out how sad this is. Kerry's comment is only a "tawdry trick" if you believe there is something wrong with being gay. It's only "political" if you know that many of your husband's supporters think that something is wrong with being gay, and think that having a gay daughter is a political liability.

But Mary Cheney isn't merely gay, she's been "professionally gay." She was the gay liaison for Coors Brewing. And she's not just an uninvolved private member of the family, she's managing her father's re-election campaign. She appeared with her partner on-stage with the family after the last debate. Her father has talked about her being gay in public appearences.

So what's the problem? If the question had been "Do you believe that having red hair is a choice?" and Kerry said, "If you ask Mary Cheney, who has red hair, she would tell you that she's being who she was, she's being who she was born as," would that have been a cheap and tawdry political trick? (She is not actually a redhead. I'm just making a point.)

It's only a "trick" that makes Kerry "not a good man" if, behind your rhetoric, you really believe there is something wrong with red hair, and that people with red hair shouldn't be allowed to have their relationships with each other given the same rights of inheritance, hospital visitation, child custody, etc. as "normal" people, and you're working for a man who wants that prohibition written into the United States Constitution.

Every complaint the right-wing makes about Kerry's comment just reveal how hypocritical their words about "tolerance and respect and dignity" really are. And, I'm afraid, Mrs. Cheney's comment suggests that she doesn't truly accept her own daughter.