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to Have Openly Lesbian Daughter Mary Cheney, 31, Was Coors Liaison to Gay Community 'Shame on Liar Mary Cheney! ' Says L.A.'s Morris Kight |
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Compiled By GayToday
Woodward's comments were immediately followed by those of Internet scoopster Matt Drudge who shamelessly outed Ms. Mary Cheney, 31, who had been a liaison for the Coors Beer Company to America's gay and lesbian community. Her title, reportedly, was Corporate Relations Manager. According to Drudge, the Vice-presidential hopeful's daughter "became the subject of discussion at the highest levels of the Bush campaign." A top Bush source assured Drudge that George W. Bush was wholly at ease with the fact and that he "embraces both of Mr. Cheney's daughters."
The Rev. Jerry Falwell, in a July 27 statement, said of Mary Cheney's candidate father: " It is ludicrous to judge a man based on one errant, but loved, family member." Falwell assures his followers that the sexual orientation of the candidate's daughter "should not affect Mr. Cheney's ability to serve as vice president." Mary Cheney, it is said, will campaign for the Republican ticket. The GOP, some activists believe, may be planning to use her to their advantage, especially if the subject of her sexuality is brought up in the campaign. A controversy between so-called moderate Republicans and members of the GOP's religious right is currently raging over the choice of openly gay Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe (R.-Arizona) who is slated to be a speaker at the forthcoming Republican convention in Philadelphia. The choice of Rep. Kolbe will help, it is hoped by some GOP strategists, to dispel the anti-gay image of the Republican party. Ms. Cheney will attempt, it is assumed, to help improve the GOP's negative ratings among gay and lesbian voters. The Human Rights Campaign issued a formal report July 25 that is critical of Cheney's record on gay and AIDS issues: "Cheney, a former defense secretary in the administration of Bush's father, and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1978-1989, has an extremely conservative record, HRC noted. Like Gov. Bush, however, Cheney seeks to package a conservative record with a moderate image," the organization said. "The choice of Secretary Cheney is in keeping with Governor Bush's strategy of staking out conservative positions and wrapping them in a moderate package," said Winnie Stachelberg, HRC's political director. As a Wyoming congressman, Cheney opposed early efforts to address the HIV/AIDS crisis. Most notably, he was one of 13 House members who voted against the AIDS Federal Policy Act of 1988, the first major bill to provide funding for HIV/AIDS counseling and testing. Cheney also supported an effort to reduce funding for HIV/AIDS research. In addition, Cheney voted against the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1988 and supported an amendment that added anti-gay language to the bill. Cheney opposed President Clinton's effort to lift the ban on gays serving openly in the military. Cheney told CNN in 1993, "I am one of those people who believes that people's sexual preference and orientation are a private matter. It's something that is a personal matter for them, and no one else's business. And that's the way I ran the civilian side of the Pentagon...On the military side, though, you can't pursue that policy." Later in the interview, Cheney said: "I basically don't believe in discrimination, but I did conclude, as secretary of defense, that the ban on gays in uniform was appropriate." |
