To hear Team Bush tell it, you’d think that John Kerry had outed the vice-president’s daughter on national television during last week’s presidential debate. Mary Cheney (l), with partner Heather Poe at the very public Republican National Convention in New York, has been out so long it’s old news. Heck, she’s even joined in the annual gay ritual of “Splash” at Hippie Hollow, back when she served as Coors Brewing Co.’s ambassador to the gay community. But the real insult here in the whole gay debate is that George Bush’s “I believe in tolerance” remark – when he and the GOP are aggressively using the same-sex marriage amendment to polarize voters and generate intolerance – raised nary an eyebrow in the mainstream press.
This article appears in October 22 • 2004.
