An excellent column by Dave Cullen at Salon: "John Kerry's lesbian moment"

[milkyway]

Dick and Lynne Cheney screamed foul when the Democratic candidate mentioned their gay daughter. But for gays and lesbians, what is most outrageous is the Cheneys' outrage.
<snip>

Much of the gay population is incensed. At the media.

Let's get one thing straight. It is not an insult to call a proudly public lesbian a lesbian. It's an insult to gasp when someone calls her a lesbian. That's how all the gays I have spoken to the past 24 hours perceived the press response. You're embarrassed for us. And it's infuriating.

Consider the way a paraplegic or a blind person feels when you act just a little too sympathetic about their "plight." We don't want your pity! Can you see how insulting it is?
<snip>

<Lynne Cheney's> response was truly deplorable. If Mary Cheney is distraught this morning, it's likely her mother is the cause. And it's perplexing to millions of gay Americans today why the press has not grasped how horrible she acted toward Mary Wednesday night.
<more>
<snip>

Once you're happily out of the closet a few years, you don't bat an eye at someone hearing you're gay. Even on national television. Even if your father's the vice president. (Especially if your father's the vice president -- don't you think she's used to it by now?)

What rips your heart out is when someone close to you denies your sexuality in public. Or shudders at the mention of it, so you can see how desperately they want to.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Yep..Lynne wants Mary back in the closet

[Fenris]

2. How does one become a professional homosexual?

What sort of education does that require? Is it full time?:D

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

3. You have to learn out in the field

I can go get ARWALDEN to help you if you wish :-)

[Fenris]

4. I'm not sure my girlfriend would appreciate that.

She prefers me heterosexual. But other than that...:)

[JuliaAnn]

5. Bush and Cheney are using this!

They're not REALLY that shocked, it's just that Karl Rove and Karen Hughes immediately saw an OPENING they could use HOPEFULLY RIGHT UP TO ELECTION DAY to shore up their homophobic base and perhaps create indecision down "the middle." Lynne Cheney is cunning, wiley, experienced, ruthless, and everyone she fucking knows knows that she has a LESBIAN (oops, I said it) daughter.

Let's see -- will we let these people drag us into a discussion of homosexuality, which is exactly what they want? Or will we move on quickly, letting the media know it's a BORE, and get back to matters at hand?

[Kenneth ken]

6. welcome to DU

:hi:

nice post.

[JuliaAnn]

7. Thanks (are you talking to me?:)

I've been reading all the mainstream media hype on the Cheney Affair. I can't tolerate wasting much more time on it. We all ought to say to Lynne Cheney words we learned from her hubby: "GO F*&K YOURSELF."

Edit: geez, this election better come soon or I will begin to drool, smirk, and lose language skills!

[Kenneth ken]

8. yes I was talking to you.

cause I saw you only had 3 posts, so concluded you were probably fairly new here. Some people hang around and read a lot, but never post, so they may not "feel" new, but I just go by post counts, I rarely check profiles, so to me, low post count = new person.

( you can check a profile by clicking on the hea-shaped icon near someone's name. )

edit: there should be an l in "talking"

[JuliaAnn]

9. Thank you, Kennethken ... I finally decided to jump in ...

I've been reading for a time, but can't hold my tongue any longer! Yes I am new and I appreciate the fact that you noticed and made me feel welcome. I checked your post tally --- whew, I'll NEVER catch up.

"The penalty that good men pay for not being involved in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves." -- Plato

[Kenneth ken]

11. it gets easier to post

the more time you spend. It took me two years to get to 1,000, and only about a year to get to 2,000. There are many people here who posted much more than me in much les time.

Apart from using post counts to recognize new people, I don't much care about the numbers.

I think this is a great site to read, and the more I read the more I learn. The more I learn the more I feel like I can make post reasonably intelligent comments.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Link here

since Salon doesn't actually have this on their front page, it's quite hard to find:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/10/15/mary_cheney/index.html

Also, it's not really LBN - more an Editorial.