Thanks, but no thanks, Dick

My fellow Americans, Dick Cheney has boldly taken a stand on gay marriage...again. It's nothing new, and he's not saying anything different then he did in 2004. He believes that everyone should enjoy the same rights that living in a free country guarantees, however he doesn't believe it should be federal law. For some reason he doesn't seem to think it's important enough to be the law of the land. Freedom. For everyone. Should be left up to the individual states. Interesting. He's said that the people should express their opinion and that the majority voice should rule. That the courts should stay out of it. Apparently he thinks the Supreme Court should stay out of the Constitutional law business and allow the people to rule, right or wrong, unconstitutional or not. I wonder if this is the pathetic payoff to his gay daughter Mary, for her standing with him while he campaigned. A hideous thank you to a daughter who betrayed millions of gay Americans. If I were her, I'd have asked for a yacht or something instead.


I wonder if Mr. Cheney knows that his daughter can be refused a job or a place to live, can be fired from a job, or be harassed daily at her job and it's not against federal law, or state law in most states. I wonder if he knows that Mary can be barred from her long time partners side at a hospital if the family members of her partner choose to not allow her access-because she has NO legal right to be there under federal law, or state law in most states. Recently, a gay couple, long time companions, only had to spend $19,000 in legal fees to guarantee themselves the same protection under law that a $55 wedding license would allow them. And, all of that laborious legalese could still be challenged, and depending on the judge, overturned in a court of law. So, yeah, kinda Dick, we do have SOME protection, as long as we have $20,000 to shell out to make sure that the person we have loved for 30 years can come see us in the hospital if we are sick or injured, or inherit the communal property that we bought during the course of our life together.

You know what Dick? It cost you NOTHING to say what you said. Absolutely nothing. It was an empty statement. Actually, it was worse than that. It gave the appearance that you supported your daughter and the gay community. Maybe you really believe that it helped. But I doubt that because I think you have spent so many years as a political animal that you no longer know how to make a simple statement without weighing it's political reflection on you. Somehow, some way, this statement benefited you, even if it was the equivalent of throwing a bone to faithful dog.

I wish I could feel sorry for your daughter, Mary. I've tried to understand why she would support you during your campaigns. Don't get me wrong, I can understand a daughter wanting to support her father. But I have to wonder why? Either she has been raised in such privilege that the idea that she could be treated unfairly has never entered her mind. "My dad is Dick Cheney," would probably take care of most roadblocks for her. Or, she so desperately needs your approval. Or, she is a dedicated right wing, conservative Republican. In that case, I hope she lives in one of the many states that does not allow gay Americans the same rights as their fellows. I do hope she's not that hypocritical. That she would live somewhere and stand on the shoulders of other gay men and women who worked relentlessly to guarantee the rights of their brothers and sisters. But I doubt it. I'm not going to look it up, I don't want it to ruin my day.

Whatever the reason, Mary Cheney lives in the tiny percentage of Americans who basically don't answer to the same authority that the rest of us do. She lives in a privileged Utopia. Where her father's business card acts as a platinum-plated get out of jail free card. I just hope that she never experiences the America that the rest of us live in. I truly hope that she never is attacked and beaten for holding hands with her partner in public. I hope she is never fired from her job because the new boss thinks that dykes are sinners. I hope that a landlord, finding that she is gay, decides not renew her lease. But apparently Mary doesn't know, or care about those things, because she stood beside a man who represents a party who believes that gay people are second class citizens who do not deserve the same rights as the rest of America, the same party who's leader decided that AIDS was not worth federal funding, and the same party Oklahoma Representative Sally Kern is a member of, who said, sic, "Homosexuality is a bigger threat to America than terrorism."

Hey Dick? We're not as stupid as you think we are. We know you are trying to balance some of the nut-jobs that are crawling out of the woodwork, after being driven even crazier by the election of an African American Democrat. But you need to check your approval rating; last time I looked it was lower than your ex bosses. So the next time you want to support the gay community? Make a donation to PFLAG instead. It would actually help.