BREAKING: Cheney's lesbian daughter Mary is pregnant!

[meegbear]

Oh, man, is this gonna be fun. Just watching the religious right try to bite their tongues and not slam the vice president's family. I'm very happy for Mary and Heather, and in their own way they're breaking new ground and making a difference for gay people in this country, finally. But still, this is gonna be priceless just to watch the collective heads of the religious right explode.

Mary Cheney, the vice president's openly gay daughter, is pregnant. She and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, are "ecstatic" about the baby, due in late spring, said a source close to the couple.

It's a baby boom for grandparents Dick and Lynne Cheney: Their older daughter, Elizabeth, went on leave as deputy assistant secretary of state before having her fifth child in July. "The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation to the arrival of their sixth grandchild," spokesman Lea Anne McBride said last night.

And get this. They live in Virginia, where a new state constitutional amendment pretty much guarantees that Mary's baby is screwed.

In November, Virginia voters passed a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions; state law is unclear on whether Poe could have full legal rights as a parent of Cheney's child. The circumstances of the pregnancy will remain private, said the source close to the couple. This is the first child for both.

Oh, but Virginia law was already far worse than that. Virginia had already set up new Jim Crow laws targeting gays two years ago. Those laws may vitiate any legal agreement between the two, period, about anything. The law ensures that Mary's partner has no legal rights whatsoever in their child, or in what happens to Mary (or vice versa), such as if one partner has to go the hospital, the other can't visit. The law may even nullify any wills that Mary and Heather write regarding each other, and it may make it impossible for gay people to go to court to resolve any difference about anything - the courts can't recognize gay unions, so they can't make any decisions that would imply recognition (custody, hospital visitation, wills, etc.) It's beyond ironic that Virginia's new law, one of the most hateful, bigoted laws on the books, is now targeting the vice president's own daughter and soon-to-be new grandchild.

Read more here, it's chilling the extent to which Virginia has slipped back into its racist, hateful path.

Oh, and by the way, who's the daddy?

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/12/breaking-cheneys-lesbian-daughter-mary.html

[marmar]

1. True, this will be fun....watching the Reich go apeshit.

Hopefully, the baby will grow up to be less of a hypocrite than mommy is.

[MADem]

2. Virginia is indeed for haters.....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36314-2004Jun12.html

...."A civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges and obligations of marriage is prohibited." It goes on to add that any such union, contract or arrangement entered into in any other state, "and any contractual rights created thereby," are "void and unenforceable in Virginia."

When gay marriage came up, Virginia was among the first states to preemptively ban it, in 1997. Moreover, Virginia is the only state to forbid even private companies, unless self-insured, from extending health insurance benefits to unmarried couples. That provision affects cohabiting straights but works a far greater hardship on gay couples, who cannot marry.

Those steps, however, impinge on the power of third parties (corporations and the government) to recognize gay couples. In the Marriage Affirmation Act, Virginia appears to abridge gay individuals' right to enter into private contracts with each other. On its face, the law could interfere with wills, medical directives, powers of attorney, child custody and property arrangements, even perhaps joint bank accounts. If a gay Californian was hit by a bus in Arlington, her medical power of attorney might be worthless there. "Sorry," the hospital might have to say to her frantic partner, "your contract means nothing here. Now leave before we call security."

Some of the law's sponsors have denied intending such a draconian result, and courts may interpret the text's vague and peculiar language more narrowly. Nonetheless, the law as written is a threat to all Virginians and indeed to all Americans, gay and straight alike.

[MemphisTiger]

3. What's funny is if we bring it up we are out if line and have

no business discussing a private matter, but they could call Chelsea names all day long. Hypocrite repukes.

[BOSSHOG]

4. Thanks to religious zealots, the bastard cheney will have a bastard grandbaby

Isn't it just great when religious zealots wield power in the land of the free?

[mitchtv]

9. Mary Cheney is gonna have a gayby

Good luck kid , you'll need it . Virginia no less

[mockmonkey]

5. OMG

Out of wedlock? If they were fictional characters Dan Quayle would be all in their face! I know, Dan who?

[TechBear_Seattle]

6. Virginia has a terrible record with regards to civil rights

Remember, it was Virginia's law making it a felony for an interracial couple to leave the state to get married that let the Supreme Court overthrow all antimiscegenation laws. Maybe Virginia will again prove the test case to invalidate this set of extremely bigoted laws?

[Sapphocrat]

7. The only thing that bothers me...

...is the idea of more Cheney DNA in the world.

Otherwise, I hope the happy couple has quintuplets. All healthy. And all future Democrats.

Oh, and I also hope Mary and whatsherface get fucked over royally by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

[TaleWgnDg]

8. It is deeply offensive to me that people such as Mary Cheney

.

It is deeply offensive to me that people such as Mary Cheney -- a hypocrite, a wealthy, deeply connected hypocrite too -- can lead a dual life. One, bashing who she is and what she is, while hurting others of the same sexual orientation. And, two, being able to do so while she, herself, is protected because she is wealthy and politically well connected thus able to circumvent being similarly hurt because Mary Cheney can go around the bashing that she causes others by engaging and retaining good solid (and well-connected) legal counselling! Why should she care if she won't stand up and be counted? She is protected after all. Yes, it is very deeply offensive, and twisted too.

Certainly, I do not wish ill toward her unborn child as Mary Cheney has caused to other children of GLBT couples. After all, a child is innocent of the ills caused by the parent.

And what of the children never conceived because many GLBTs cannot bring children into the world u/ their present and potential future living environment due to laws construed against them as well as the people around them? Where's Mary in all this?

The only message I would like Mary -- and others who are similarly situated -- to hear and act upon is, "Hey, Mary, ferchrissakes, get the hell off yer ass and stand up for who you are and what you are. Others are involved besides you, Mary. And there's children being impacted, innocent children!"

.