Wayne Besen’s commented last week on the furor over John Kerry mentioning Mary Cheney’s sexual orientation — a public disclosure that was based on her history as a gay advocate at Coors. And PFOX issued a press release criticizing Kerry. XGW mentioned both these events.
However, PFOX also wrote an impolite open letter — not to Mary Cheney, but to the Vice President and his wife. (Apparently, lesbian daughters are to be talked about, not talked with.)
In the open letter, PFOX sought the Vice President’s support while
declining to acknowledge his opposition to the Federal Marriage
Amendment. PFOX supports constitutional bans against gay marriage.
Exgay science pundit Prof. Warren Throckmorton and exgay activist Greg Quinlan also used
Kerry’s statement about Mary’s sexual orientation to draw attention to
themselves. Throckmorton distorted Kerry’s statement that he does not
think people choose to be gay (attracted to the same gender); instead,
Throckmorton claimed Kerry said that choice plays no role in "sexual
identity." Without substantiation, Quinlan accused Kerry of denying the
existence of exgays.
None of these advocates has protested Alan Keyes’ public statement that Mary Cheney is a "selfish hedonist."
Looking back at the furor, I begin to wonder whether the Cheneys’
public disagreement with FMA, and the re-emergence of Mary’s
orientation as a campaign issue, prompted George Bush to soften his
opposition to gay civil unions.
>None of these advocates has protested Alan Keyes’ public statement that Mary Cheney is a “selfish hedonist.”
Neither did Dick or Lynne Cheney. Which is one reason that the Cheneys’ faux outrage over Kerry’s mention on TV was just that–faux.
In her open letter, Regina Griggs said, “Ex-gays explained that although no one chooses same-sex attractions, many men and women overcome unwanted same-sex attractions every year. ”
She also said that Kerry said he believed people were born gay. I could be wrong, but my recollection was that he said that Mary Cheney and other gays are being just as God wanted them to be. The question was about choice, not being born gay from my recollection.
Given that, shouldn’t Griggs be opposing Bush’s statement that he doesn’t know whether gays or born gay. She seems to know pretty darned well. Kerry only agreed with her that gays dont choose to be gay, and he gets attacked. But, when Bush undermines her own beliefs, he gets left alone. Interesting.
On a side note- I dont think fighting against gays politically does any good for the relationship between gays and their parents. Is her child openly gay or ex-gay? If he/she is gay, I can’t imagine the pain he/she is having to deal with.