Where is Mary Cheney? Parts 1 & 2

[Cannikin]

http://www.365gay.com/opinion/wocknerWire/wocknerwire1.htm
Part 1 Earth To Mary

Where's Mary Cheney? Has she been institutionalized? Exiled to Alaskan Siberia?

The country is having convulsions over same-sex marriage and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's openly lesbian daughter is MIA. Invisibilized. Disappeared.

Assuming Mary is out there somewhere, I have a couple of questions for her.

Do you sleep well knowing you could do so much for the struggle for gay equality but choosing to do nothing?

Do you wake up cheery and untroubled, content in passing up what is likely the biggest chance you'll have to make the world a better place?

Helloooo Mary? Come to me. Talk to me. Let me interview you.

Where's Mary Cheney? - Part 2


In my previous column, I wondered what has become of Mary Cheney, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's openly lesbian daughter. Why isn't she helping us fight the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage? I invited her to call me. She didn't.

This week, I asked some gay bigwigs the burning question: "Where's Mary Cheney?"

NGLTF Executive Director Matt Foreman: "It's clear to me that the powers that be within the Bush administration decided Ms. Cheney had served their purposes by her stint in RUC , but had to be sent into hibernation for anything connected to the gay community well in advance of the election."

Author and ACT UP founder Larry Kramer: "I am assuming, I am hoping, that Mary Cheney feels pretty awful. It is pretty awful when your own father sells you out. If she doesn't feel awful, then she's pretty awful herself."

Writer Andrew Sullivan: "It's sad. It's depressing. We are fighting for our basic rights. We need her help badly. People do what they can do; I don't like condemning other gay people who have their own private struggles that I don't want to judge. But I do hope and pray that Mary will soon find the strength to defend herself, her relationship and the rest of us. It's tough. But for a civil-rights movement to succeed, it needs personal sacrifices from all of us."

Author Edmund White: "Mary Cheney is struggling out from under a ton of chagrin, which is pretty hard to do since she also has a mouthful of crow. Oh well, none of us chooses her or his father; let's not be too hard on the poor woman."

Syndicated columnist Deb Price: "Where's Mary Cheney? Clearly not at an undisclosed location rewatching 'The Wizard of Oz.' If Mary were, she'd recall that Dorothy didn't abandon her friends. She pestered the wizard until he helped them."

Syndicated columnist Dan Savage: "She's tied to a bondage board under Ellen DeGeneres' bed."

Hollywood Square Bruce Vilanch: "She's on an Olivia cruise, chasing after Louise, the stoker in boiler room #3."

New York City activist Ann Northrop: "I think Mary Cheney has been deeply sedated and is being held captive in the alternate universe of 'The Prisoner.'"

Dykes To Watch Out For cartoonist Alison Bechdel: "She's in a room off Dick's bunker where the deprogrammer lady from 'But I'm a Cheerleader' is keeping her crocked on Coors Lite."

Village Voice columnist Michael Musto: "My guess is she's bound and gagged and locked in an attic along with Hans Blix. ... Why does this surprise us? We can't even find her father!"

Village Voice Executive Editor Richard Goldstein: "I fear she's been sold into slavery."

DontAmend.com National Co-Chair Robin Tyler: "Having an affair with Elizabeth Birch?"

POZ magazine founder Sean Strub: "I feel compassion for Mary Cheney. ... We know the deep and very likely unspoken pain she feels but may never want or be able to make her father understand."

Syndicated columnist Michael Alvear: "Mary Cheney is every person who watched a mugging and didn't stop it."

Author, radio personality and outing inventor Michelangelo Signorile: "Mary went from being active in the Republican Unity Coalition -- the gay-straight alliance -- to staying silent in the face of a push for a federal marriage amendment that her father and the president now say they would support. If she is not ... planning on giving her father hell publicly then she truly is ... selfish."

Window Media President William Waybourn: "People say Mary Cheney is working behind the scenes. If so, she might consider a new job because she doesn't seem to be very effective. She ought to get in her father's face -- and the president's, too, and say, 'Hey, remember this is me you are talking about.' ... If they still don't hear her, then she needs to say it louder in a public forum."

Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director Patrick Guerriero: "Mary Cheney is on staff at Bush Cheney '04 coordinating vice-presidential operations."


Thanks for that, Patrick. Poor gay Mary Cheney is between a huge boulder and a nasty hard place. Her Dad, who probably is not antigay, is the vice president of the United States of America under a president who probably is not antigay either but plays antigay on television.

(As an aside, let's note that there's no reason for George W. to say or do antigay things, given that evidence suggests he's not personally antigay. It's not like rabidly antigay voters, who are a small segment of the electorate, have anyone else to vote for.)

Given that Bush does what he does and that he's Dick Cheney's boss, Mr. Cheney probably can't do much except stay quiet on gay stuff until some reporter forces the issue, and then he hasn't much choice but to support his boss, which is exactly what he has done.

Mary has a partner and they reportedly have a good relationship with Dick and Lynne. She's helping out by working in Dick's campaign. What would you do if it were you? Go on Oprah and cuss out your Dad, knowing that he's fairly PFLAG-y privately, just not publicly.

Maybe you would. Maybe I would. Or maybe we wouldn't. One can only imagine what might crash down on her if she did. It's never easy to take on or disappoint your dad. And it has to be harder when your dad's boss is the most powerful man on the planet. When my dad was alive, I occasionally held back in this column when talking about sex stuff because he read the column every week online. He wasn't in any way antigay, I just didn't want to discuss things with him via the column that I hadn't discussed with him face-to-face.

So, while I, as much as the next guy, want Mary Cheney to speak out against the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and perhaps even to dis her dad for apparently being more supportive privately than publicly, the bottom line is this: What would I do if I were in her shoes? What would you do? What would we really do? How many of us really are as strong as one would have to be to do what we wish Mary would do?

Maybe she's a very, very tough girl and she'll surprise us. It sure would be helpful.
http://www.365gay.com/opinion/wocknerWire/wocknerWire.htm

[DarkPhenyx]

1. My objections to the articles and opinions.

I can sum it up in brief. "Not everyone is a soldier." Not everyone wants to go out and fight for the cause. It is her choice not to go into battle against her Father. That is completely within her rights. It is possible for us to sit back and denegrate her for her silence, but before we do that first look at ourselves and find all the times we sat back and let others wage the battle for us because we didn't have the time, or the energy, or simply didn't want to be bothered. Not on just this issue, but on all issues.

It is also quite possible that she dosen't agree with the issues that the louder people in the GLBT community think she should in order "to be a good little dyke."

"Phe? You mean there might actually be a difference of opinion within the community on important issues like gay marriage?"

"Yes, Vikki, I do mean exactly that."

[gonefishing]

2. This is why I love the DU

I was going to try and say the same thing you just said. You said it much better than I could have.

Ditto!

[Torgo4]

4. No...But Civilians Can Be "Drafted!"

Little Mary may be pulled under by the cultural riptide whether she likes it or not. Politics ain't beanbag and she's an adult avatar of the lifestyle that Cheney and his intolerant conservative dickheads malign on a constant basis.

Life (especially RE: politics) ain't fair.

Don't believe me? Visit any NICU (Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit)!

I'm sure Mary can fend for herself.

:nopity:

[DarkPhenyx]

5. So we have the "right" to go in...

...and upset the apple cart of peoples lives simply because we feel that it is in the best interest of our cause?

By your draft comment that you are willing to go off and fight in George's war when he calls? Remember, as an "adult avatar" she has the right to choose not to serve. You may have no pity for her, but I think that speaks more for your humanity than it does for her position in all of this.

[Torgo4]

9. Far Be It From Me To Cross an X-Men Fan!

Yep--I get your screen name.

As for war fighting---No thanks, I already did my 8.5 years (enlisted & officer) in active Army.

It just remins me of conservaties being for rights for THEMSELVES, and fellow plutocrats! Mary Cheney won't have to worry about running afoul of sodomy laws or other gay-specific rules/regs 'cause she is well off with a well-connected family.

What about those that are not in her position of insulated priviledge?

Much like Dan Quayle and John McCain that consider abortion a personal, private family decision...for THEM and THEIRS.
Everyone else needs to go directly to jail for even thinking about it!

Sorry Mary---Time to descend Mount Olympus and mingle with the unwashed! And you may get a little gamey...!

:spank:

[Mixxster]

6. I think at least part of the rancor towards Mary Chaney...

is due to the fact that she actively campaigned for Bush/Cheney. Her status as Cheney's lesbian daughter was used as part of the ruse of "compasionate conservativism". Her support deceived some people into believing that the ticket would be tolerant on gay rights. Back then, Dick Cheney said that gay rights should be determined by individual states. Now, of course, he says he supports a Constitutional amendment that will invalidate local laws and probably deny gays the rights that they've already won.

Mary Chaney chose, as an out lesbian, to campaign for these people in 2000 and now again in 2004. (Of course, that's probably dependent on dad not being booted for "health reasons".) No doubt some gays voted for the ticket the first time because of her. Although I think some of the extreme vitriol is unfortunate, I don't think it's unfair to expect Mary Chaney to weigh in on the current comments eminating from this administration on the subject of gay rights.

[DarkPhenyx]

7. And if she comes out in support of their comments?

It isn't entirely beyond the pale for her to do so.

[Mixxster]

10. Which comments?

The "it should be up to the states" or "Let's amend the Constitution"? How could she support two opposing ideas?

[SharonAnn]

11. Then she shouldn't be a "soldier" in her dad's campaign

That is fighting for the "enemey".

Not everyone is a soldier but that's no excuse for fighting on the other side.

As a recovering alcoholic, I find that I must constantly check myself for honesty. Therefore, for my situations, my actions must be consistent with what I believe. If they're not, then my thinking and actions start to get all wierd and I'm vulnerable to relapsing.

We're presuming that she believes in "equal rights under the law" and maybe she somehow doesn't see a conflict with working for a campaign that would deny her those rights. We'll never know.

But I say that if she's working for her dad's campaign, then she's a soldier on the other side.

[Frances]

13. Mary Cheney is a soldier

She is a soldier for the Republican party.

I seem to remember that she is paid to campaign for the Republicans. Can anyone check this out to see if my memory is correct?

[murielm99]

3. I feel very sorry for this woman.

Maybe silence is her best bet for personal survival.

I am not gay, but I have witnessed the struggles of two gay people whom I love very much. One of them is a brother, who is extremely closeted. Our parents are born-again. He will never come out, in their lifetimes. He is respecting them and keeping them from being hurt, but he is living his own life, too.

The other is my daughter. She is able to help in the stuggle for gay rights, because she has our support, help and love. Also, I think that even if her family had rejected her and hurt her badly, she is a strong enough person to wage the good fight on her own.

I love my brother and daughter, not because of, or in spite of their being gay. I love them for the people they are, and because they are family.

Some are, some are not strong enough to be spokespeople. Who am I to judge? Maybe Mary has to bide her time. When her father is no longer in the public eye, maybe she can speak out. But, maybe even then, she will just want a private life. What is so wrong with a private life?

[Alpharetta]

8. She's not off limits. "Mary Cheney is on staff"

She's not off-limits. They say she's on campaign staff.

I am always impressed with how so many Republicans can be silent when the party bangs a drumbeat of fear against their minority.

[swinney]

12. Mary Cheney on display--overseas.

She was on a trip to Europe with parents last two weeks.