"...since you were outed by the Democratic presidential candidate."

This myth just annoys me. Mary was very out before the alluded to debate when John Kerry mentioned her. Dick Cheney himself had mentioned his "gay daughter" in campaigning long before Kerry mentioned her.

The Google is your friend.

Fabulous.

But I found hilarity. Thanks! This has been a really, really good week at Salon. I'm actually forwarding articles all over the place.

Ms Cheney should also expect puzzled looks from teens educated under abstinence-only sex-education programs, as well as the question 'Really? How, exactly?

If you spliced together the myriad feculent diatribes on this topic, by the likes of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, it would be hours and hours. Cheney glided to power on the crap dished out by these guys. Maybe James Dobson will baptize the little abomination.

You got the exact smug, condescending tone of those dreadful "What to Expect" books. Fabulous.

I do feel a little sorry for Mary Cheney. Whatever her inner capacities are for pulling the wool over her own eyes (and we all do it), I feel sorry for the media storm that will follow such a personal event. Here's hoping that it helps someone on the rabid right to perhaps acknowledge that lesbians are people. What a concept.

Though I relish almost all humor about our president and his vice, I was disgusted by this article. It reminded me of the Rush Limbaugh attacks on Chelsea Clinton.

Come on. Mary Cheney's father may be a political figure, but she is not. She did not run for office and she has a right (aside from her familial connection to her dad) to privacy.

You can make fun of her father (including the republican double standards regarding gays) but it is inappropriate to extend such sarcasm to Mary Cheney.

"And Mary said, 'How can this be, since I have no husband?'"

See, it's all in the Bible.

Very funny. I will take the advice about doing home improvements to make myself feel more part of the process. But one thing:

My mother used to write lesbian love scenes in novels

As a knee-jerk lefty pro-sex lesbian, I made it my duty to slog through "Sisters", figuring that I could both be amused by the idea of Lynn Cheney writing girl-girl smut and enjoy it for myself if I was lucky.

I failed in both attempts: I didn't see anything that could masquerade as a lesbian love scene and LC is a bad writer. There was a lesbian relationship described in the novel, but (spoiler alert!) no scenes of passion beyond some letters between the women. Unless I missed it by skimming (the writing was bad, people), I think that a lot of people are making more of this book than it is.

Bummer.

This is brilliant! However, we haven't had an immaculate conception in over 2000 years - could Mary's be the next one? I just hope Grandpa Dick doesn't come near the poor kid with a hunting rifle.

She's 'way too attractive to be Dick's daughter. Hmmm. . .

In response to "Disgusted" (posted earlier) and the comment "Mary Cheney's father may be a political figure, but she is not," here's a correction.

Mary Cheney was Director of Vice Presidential Operations for the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2004. This certainly makes her a political figure.

The only thing to be disgusted about is the Cheney family's hypocrisy.

Check it out here: http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/bush/bushorg.html

Mary Cheney is very involved in her father's politics. She has made herself a public figure by campaigning for him and the republicans.

Wrong. Mary Cheney has been a professional lesbian for years from her time working for Coors to her work on her father's campaign.

For the past few election cycles innitiatives banning same-sex marriage has appeared in some form all across the country. Some also included barring civil unions and others go as far as banning any leagal arrangement that approxomates any benefit of marraige.

Of course this self-serving piece of shit doesn't have to worry about any of that. Her corrupt father will make sure she has all of the advantages being denied to others.

I sincerely hope the gay community shuns Ms Cheney as the despicable pariah she is.

Long before John Kerry had the nerve to mention that she is a lesbian, Mary Cheney was cashing no doubt big paychecks from Coors Brewing, where her job was to counter that company's lousy reputation within the LGBT community. Apparently she was very good at what she did, because I can't remember the last time I walked into a gay bar that didn't serve Coors Light.

That's why I found all the handwringing about respecting Mary's "privacy" during the election so infruriating. She was willing to be the very visible "gay face" of a major corporation. So when she turns around and become an important player on a team that has racked up its victories by stomping on the rights of the very folks to whom she shilled beer, then I think every LGBT person in America has a right - indeed, a duty - to call her on it.

I hope Mary's child enjoys the safety and security of being in her mother's womb, because it is being born into a world that is infinitely harder, crueler, and scarier thanks to people like Mary Cheney, who helped keep this nightmarish administration in office. And now maybe Mary Cheney will understand what real gay folks have to deal with everyday of their lives.

I was going to write in to say that Mary was already totally out of the closet long before her name ever came up in any debate. Then I was going to say how much I enjoyed this article. Finally, I was going to correct the absolutely incorrect letter-writer by pointing out that Mary had a high-level paid position with the Bush/Cheney campaign and thus is very much a public political figure, as well as a paid gay-basher, who should be held to account for her hypocrisy and hatred (never mind her self-hatred) at every available opportunity.

But it seems that all those letters have already been written! So now we just need some editor somewhere to slap a red star on those letters so that everyone can read them. Keep up the good work, to both the author of this article and the letter-writers who are keeping everyone honest.