There's Something About Mary (Cheney)

by Sandip Roy

(PNS) -- Will and Grace and Ellen brought homosexuality to prime time, but Mary Cheney is still making politicians squirm on national television.

One thing is clear: no one wins when either Bush or Kerry discuss same-sex sexuality. Gays are good to give a queer eye for the straight guy, but America still blanches when it turns into "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."

In the 2000 campaign, when rumors flew far and wide that Dick Cheney's daughter was a lesbian, Lynne Cheney angrily claimed her daughter had not announced any such thing, as if announcing that would be bad.

Somewhere along the line, in the last four years, "Queer Eye For the Straight Guy" must have had an impact.

When Dick Cheney himself brought up his "gay daughter" on the campaign trail it felt like the country was a little more comfortable with, or at least more used to its LGBT citizens. The Democrats, unfortunately, reacted as if they could now use the Republicans' own wedge issue against them. And they have used it like a sledgehammer. Kerry and Edwards both brought up Mary in their debates.

Edwards was particularly clumsy. Talking about the vice president, he said, "You can't have anything but respect for the fact that they're willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter, the fact that they embrace her. It's a wonderful thing."

If Edwards wants to point out the hypocrisy of the Republican platform pandering to conservative Christians while their own lesbian and gay children live in don't-ask-don't-tell limbo, he should just come out and say it. Instead, he sounds as if he is going about it by the back door, sneakily reminding the Christian Coalition that their man in Washington has some baggage they don't approve of.

Kerry, dubbed more liberal than even Ted Kennedy, hasn't covered himself with glory either. If he was really just trying to make a point about strong families rather than politics during the debate, why single out Cheney's daughter (again) and not Dick Gephardt's? Surely, Kerry knows some other gays and lesbians, perhaps in his own family, instead of needing to borrow the Vice-President's daughter.

Dick Cheney initially reacted to Edwards with dignity, by simply thanking him for his comments. But now the Republicans have made the whole issue into a firestorm, calling Kerry's remarks a "crass, below-the-belt" attack.

Dick Cheney is now an angry father. Lynne Cheney called John Kerry a "bad man." She might claim this is personal, not political, but Lynne Cheney hasn't taken on Alan Keyes, the Republican candidate for Senate from Illinois, with the same fire. In early September, Keyes described homosexuality as "selfish hedonism." When asked if Mary Cheney fit that description, he said, "Of course she is, that goes by definition." At the time, the Cheney campaign described his comments only as "inappropriate" and not worth dignifying with a response.

"John Kerry, John Edwards and (Kerry spokeswoman) Mary Beth Cahill have made perfectly clear that they have made attacking Mary Cheney their policy," Bush campaign spokeswoman Nicolle Devenish told reporters. No one is denying Mary Cheney is lesbian. So how is saying just that "an attack?" Because lesbianism is bad? Because Kerry is airing their dirty laundry for them? But for that to be true they must think the laundry is dirty to begin with.

This is not the old argument about sexuality being private. What Bill Clinton did or didn't do to Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office might be private. But since when was Clinton's sexuality ever private? Every time Clinton walked out with Hilary and Chelsea, or, for that matter, when the Bush embraces his daughters on stage, their sexuality is out there in public for the world to see and admire. When Bush talks about a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage, that's about as public as any discussion on sexuality can get.

It's only Mary who has to be private. Once, she might have been attacked as a lesbian. Now, the Cheneys seem to say, she needs to be protected in a way their other daughter doesn't. Either way, there's something about Mary that needs to be kept out of sight.