Before the presidential campaign really got going, liberals were speculating how the George W. Bush/Dick Cheney ticket would handle the inevitable questions about Cheney’s daughter, who happens to be a lesbian and used to work for Coors as part of efforts to improve that company’s reputation among gays and lesbians (where it is known for funding anti-gay groups).
I didn’t watch the vice-presidential debate, but when asked about his daughter, Cheney said he wouldn’t talk about her out of respect for her privacy, but did say, “people should be free to enter into any kind of relationships they want to enter into.” Issues of same-sex marriage should be left up to the states, Cheney added — a position that is directly at odds with many conservative pro-family groups. Conservative anti-gay groups correctly reason that once, say, Michigan decides to recognize same sex marriages, inevitably controversy and legal action will ensue as to whether, say, Alabama has to also recognize a same-sex marriage preformed in Michigan much as it has to recognize a heterosexual marriage performed in Michigan (this is because of the full faith and credit clause in the Constitution). The odds are very high that a federal court will rule that once one state recognizes same sex marriage, all states have to recognize same sex marriages performed in that state, hence effectively recognizing same sex marriage nationally.
The American Family Association’s Tim Wildmon posted a statement on the group’s web site saying, “Live and let live is a fine policy for people’s private lives, but Secretary Cheney should have been much stronger in saying that same-sex marriages are wrong.”
This is an interesting tactic. Cheney, and especially George W. Bush, are clearly part of the cultural right but they are far closer to the center of that movement than Republican candidates in the past, preferring to moralize while simultaneously eschew legal solutions. Witness Bush’s comments that abortion opponents need to change people’s minds, or Bush’s admonishing of Hollywood while at the same time stopping short of calling for legislation to punish Hollywood (unlike Al Gore who has suggested a federal lawsuit against media companies similar to the ongoing federal efforts to sue tobacco companies).
Source:
Cheney, gay rights crusader? Alicia Montgomery, Salon.Com, October 10, 2000.