Cheney Offers Support for Gay Marriage

[littlewolf]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/01/cheney-offers-his-support_n_209869.html

There is video at the link ... interesting ... whats your take ....




Cheney Offers Support For Gay Marriage (VIDEO)

First Posted: 06- 1-09 02:09 PM | Updated: 06- 1-09 04:30 PM

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Read More: Cheney Gay Marriage, Cheney Marriage Debates, Cheney Obama, Dick Cheney, Politics News
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Dick Cheney rarely takes a position that places him at a more progressive tilt than President Obama. But on Monday, the former vice president did just that, saying that he supports gay marriage as long as it is deemed legal by state and not federal government.

Speaking at the National Press Club for the Gerald R. Ford Foundation journalism awards, Cheney was asked about recent rulings and legislative action in Iowa and elsewhere that allowed for gay couples to legally wed.

"I think that freedom means freedom for everyone," replied the former V.P. "As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don't support. I do believe that the historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. ... But I don't have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that."

Watch:


Cheney has made similar arguments in support of gay marriage in the past, including during the run-up to the 2004 election. But his current comments come at a moment when the Republican Party and conservative movement is increasingly split on the issue. Bush recount lawyer Ted Olsen and John McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt have both argued in favor of gay marriage. The religious right, as expected, remains opposed.

Caught up in the debate is the Obama administration. The president has said he supports civil unions for gay couples but that he remains committed to marriage being between and man and woman. His press department has been completely quiet about the recent California Supreme Court case upholding a ban on gay marriage in the state -- something that, it seems, Cheney would object to in spirit if not law.

[Bumblebee]

1. it's more than a year old...

[Historic NY]

2. Wow, is this an edict beyond the grave?

[Evasporque]

3. He found out the ritual "tossing of the dead bats" post gay wedding...

You know old Dick can't resist dead bats.

[ShadowLiberal]

4. His comments on not supporting a federal statute to protect gay marriage misses the point

He supports gay marriage, I believe him.

But Cheney saying that there shouldn't be a federal statute to protect gay marriage and that we ought to leave it up to states like we've traditionally done misses the point entirely. States are refusing to recognize gay marriages done in other states (assuming they don't allow gay marriages themselves), and states are right now using a federal law, DOMA, to justify this. States not recognizing something like marriages performed in another state violates the equal commerce clause of the constitution. When states refuse to follow the law and/or constitution the federal government must step in, like it did with the Little Rock 9, like it did for Interracial marriages being banned.

And if you ask any opponent of gay marriage, forcing all the states to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere would be almost as bad as being forced to let gays marry in all states in the United States. So it's not like they'd consider it any less intrusive for the Federal Government to not go all the way at protecting the right of gays to marry each other.

[bullwinkle428]

5. Sounds like basically the same position as Obama - okay with it

on the state level, but doesn't want it on the federal level.

[WillParkinson]

6. Yes, because separate but equal works oh so well...

I grow weary of people who say 'let the states decide'. Why in the heck does Joe Blow down the street get a say in my personal life when I don't get one in his?