While the world’s been watching a hockey mom who’s seen Russia attempt a move cross country, the current resident of Number One Observatory Circle has been making some big moves of her own.
Lynne Cheney earned some fans in the GLBT community this week for sort of, almost, but not exactly putting her seal of approval on gay marriage. Congratulations Mrs. Cheney, you’ve taken the next step in what it means to be a mommy.
The vice president’s wife was on CBS’ Early Show to promote her new book, We the People: The Story of Our Constitution, not talk about her openly lesbian daughter Mary. But when CBS co-anchor Harry Smith pressed for her take on Star Trek actor George Takei’s marriage in California to his long-time partner, Brad Altman, Mrs. Cheney quoted one of her husband’s speeches embraced by gays and lesbians back in the 2000 campaign.
“Freedom in this country ought to mean freedom for everyone,” she said, paraphrasing Dick Cheney’s comments during the 2000 vice presidential debates (the exact context of the statements is available here). You know, the comments he conveniently forgot when it came time to stand by his boss and support the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
But I digress. This is about his wife, the mother of his children, after all. “I would wish my daughter to have happiness and freedom to make her own choices,” Mrs. Cheney told Smith.
Even skirting the words “yes, I support gay marriage,” she’s come a long way from the mom who made a political attack against John Kerry during the 2004 campaign for discussing Mary’s sexuality. She pulled the mom card when she called out Kerry to lend credence to her claim that he was “tawdry.” Now she’s pulling the mom card to turn her back on the Republican line.
If she were a politician, I’d call her out for being a flip-flopper. But she’s not a politician. She’s a politician’s wife, and she’s a mom. And I’m just too darn hokey to believe that moms don’t always want their kids to be happy. Call me Pollyanna, but come on. If they’ve got blue hair, a bull ring through the nose plus a lesbian girlfriend, they’re still yours.
So congratulations, Mrs. Cheney. You picked your daughter over the devil perched on your shoulder. Score one for motherhood.
