1994-2000: Mary Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, works for Coors Brewing as outreach to the gay and lesbian community. She helps to end a 20-year boycott of Coors by many gay bars. (Coors was boycotted for its funding of anti-gay initiatives.) As part of her work, Ms. Cheney visits gay bars, sometimes accompanied by Mr. International Leather 1999 wearing chaps and straps.
2000: Mary Cheney acts as outreach to the gay-lesbian community for Bush-Cheney 2000.
August 2004: Vice President Cheney, in a town hall meeting, refers to Mary’s lesbian orientation in answering a question on gay marriage.
August 2004: In an interview with Sirius Radio, Alan Keyes, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Illinois, says homosexuality amounts to “selfish hedonism.” Asked if Mary Cheney is included in that definition, Mr. Keyes says she is. Neither the vice president nor Lynne Cheney publicly comment on Mr. Keyes’s characterization of their daughter as a “selfish hedonist.”
October 2004: In the final presidential debate, Democratic candidate John Kerry refers to Mary Cheney’s lesbian orientation in answering a question about whether people choose to be homosexual. The following day, Mr. Cheney said Mr. Kerry’s comment made him “a pretty angry father” and Lynne Cheney called Mr. Kerry’s statement “a cheap and tawdry political trick.”
November 2004: George Bush and Dick Cheney are elected to a second term of office. Liberal pundits, although saddened by Mr. Kerry’s loss, express hopes that in their final term, Messrs. Bush and Cheney will abandon some of the hard-right positions they campaigned on and move toward the center.
January 2005: In one of her first acts, incoming Education Secretary Margaret Spellings writes to Pat Mitchell, president and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service, to protest the “Sugartime!” episode of “Postcards from Buster,” which depicts an animated rabbit visiting Vermont and talking to children about maple syrup. The Vermont children are from families headed by lesbian parents. Ms. Spellings wrote, “Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the life-styles portrayed in this episode. Congress’ and the Department’s purpose in funding this programming certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children, particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of television.” Ms. Mitchell, fearing for PBS’s funding, pulls the episode, although some stations air it.
January 2005: Alan Keyes locks his 19-year-old daughter Maya out of his house and refuses to speak to her after she publicly acknowledges she is a lesbian. Maya says her father knew she was a lesbian when he referred to lesbians as “selfish hedonists.”
February 2005: Vermont’s Republican Governor Jim Douglas and Lt. Governor Brian Dubie repeatedly refuse to comment on Sec. Spellings’s criticism of Vermont’s same-sex families. Mr. Dubie has a Washington meeting with Ms. Spellings, but chooses not to broach the subject.
February 2005: The Department of Health and Human Services pressures the sponsor of a Portland conference to remove the words “gay,” “lesbian,” “bisexual” and “transgender” from the conference’s title, which was to be: “Suicide Prevention Among Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Individuals.” Federal officials suggest the words “sexual orientation” be substituted. Conference organizers point out that everyone has a sexual orientation and to substitute that term would make the title so vague as to be meaningless. They further point out that transgender is not about orientation, but gender identity. After federal officials threaten the conference’s funding, the title is changed to “Suicide Prevention in Vulnerable Populations.”
February 2005: PBS President and CEO Pat Mitchell announces she will resign her position as of June 2006; she says the controversy over “Postcards from Buster” did not play a role in her decision.
A Brief Chronology
1994-2000: Mary Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, works for Coors Brewing as outreach to the gay and lesbian community. She helps to end a 20-year boycott of Coors by many gay bars. (Coors was boycotted for its funding of anti-gay initiatives.) As part of her work, Ms. Cheney visits gay bars, sometimes accompanied by Mr. International Leather 1999 wearing chaps and straps.
2000: Mary Cheney acts as outreach to the gay-lesbian community for Bush-Cheney 2000.
August 2004: Vice President Cheney, in a town hall meeting, refers to Mary’s lesbian orientation in answering a question on gay marriage.
August 2004: In an interview with Sirius Radio, Alan Keyes, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Illinois, says homosexuality amounts to “selfish hedonism.” Asked if Mary Cheney is included in that definition, Mr. Keyes says she is. Neither the vice president nor Lynne Cheney publicly comment on Mr. Keyes’s characterization of their daughter as a “selfish hedonist.”
October 2004: In the final presidential debate, Democratic candidate John Kerry refers to Mary Cheney’s lesbian orientation in answering a question about whether people choose to be homosexual. The following day, Mr. Cheney said Mr. Kerry’s comment made him “a pretty angry father” and Lynne Cheney called Mr. Kerry’s statement “a cheap and tawdry political trick.”
November 2004: George Bush and Dick Cheney are elected to a second term of office. Liberal pundits, although saddened by Mr. Kerry’s loss, express hopes that in their final term, Messrs. Bush and Cheney will abandon some of the hard-right positions they campaigned on and move toward the center.
January 2005: In one of her first acts, incoming Education Secretary Margaret Spellings writes to Pat Mitchell, president and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service, to protest the “Sugartime!” episode of “Postcards from Buster,” which depicts an animated rabbit visiting Vermont and talking to children about maple syrup. The Vermont children are from families headed by lesbian parents. Ms. Spellings wrote, “Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the life-styles portrayed in this episode. Congress’ and the Department’s purpose in funding this programming certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children, particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of television.” Ms. Mitchell, fearing for PBS’s funding, pulls the episode, although some stations air it.
January 2005: Alan Keyes locks his 19-year-old daughter Maya out of his house and refuses to speak to her after she publicly acknowledges she is a lesbian. Maya says her father knew she was a lesbian when he referred to lesbians as “selfish hedonists.”
February 2005: Vermont’s Republican Governor Jim Douglas and Lt. Governor Brian Dubie repeatedly refuse to comment on Sec. Spellings’s criticism of Vermont’s same-sex families. Mr. Dubie has a Washington meeting with Ms. Spellings, but chooses not to broach the subject.
February 2005: The Department of Health and Human Services pressures the sponsor of a Portland conference to remove the words “gay,” “lesbian,” “bisexual” and “transgender” from the conference’s title, which was to be: “Suicide Prevention Among Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Individuals.” Federal officials suggest the words “sexual orientation” be substituted. Conference organizers point out that everyone has a sexual orientation and to substitute that term would make the title so vague as to be meaningless. They further point out that transgender is not about orientation, but gender identity. After federal officials threaten the conference’s funding, the title is changed to “Suicide Prevention in Vulnerable Populations.”
February 2005: PBS President and CEO Pat Mitchell announces she will resign her position as of June 2006; she says the controversy over “Postcards from Buster” did not play a role in her decision.
© Mark Floegel, 2005