...unless Mary Cheney or her father, Dick, speaks it, I guess.

News flash to Mary Cheny: You're a professional lesbian. That's all you are. You've made a career out of it. You have, of your own free will, placed your sexuality in the public domain. You're no different than David Bowie (only not as pretty). If it offends you that someone mentions your famous sexual orientaion in the midst of an importnat discussion of relevant issues...well then, go fuck yourself.

As a self-respecting homosexual I wouldn't touch your book if I was wearing rubber gloves. I think ALL self-respecting gays should ignore it. Let's see how many of Dick's pals and all those good and virtuous right wing conservative Christians that are so supportive of Dick and his vantriloquist dummy flock to buy your book.

If I were the vice presidents daughter (and I'm not), I would have to agree that, all things being equal (well, except for the rights of tax-paying, gay Americans), I wouldn't like my "orientation" being thrown around the political pulpit, either. Especially from the Democratic party of today, which can't assemble itself to lead even in our current climate of Republican corruption, lies, greed, selfishness, you know - all the things that make Republicans, well, Republican. Still, we all need to treat each other the way we want to be treated.

All I know, as a Gay American, is that it's probably going to go against the "right-wing grain" if I were to record a version of the National Anthem sung with an effeminate "lisp".

Sorry, but Mary can go fuck herself. Whatever little fantasies she cooks up for herself about Daddy, they--Bush, Cheney, Rove, and the Bush-Cheney campaigns that Mary worked for--are the ones who made other peoples' private lives the fodder for politics and who will use any wedge issue to win, no matter whom it hurts. Why does she think she should be spared what she, as a high ranking campaign operative, was inflicting on other people? Kerry and Edwards mentioning of her sexuality may indeed have been a "tactical error", but that doesn't mean they were wrong to do so.

What troubled me more than Kerry or Edwards's mentioning of Mary Cheney's sexuality was the response of she and her parents. They were so pissed, but I didn't understand why. Were they embarrassed by their lesbian daughter? Did they not want the radical Christian right wing of the GOP to know their daughter was a lesbian? Where they worried that the bible-thumpers weren't going to come out and vote for a VP with a lesbian daughter? If that's the case, that's shameful on their part. Neither Kerry or Edwards brought up her orientation in a way that made sense, but I think they were trying to make the point that the Republican party was discriminating against their own party. Mary Cheney was on PrimeTime Live last week and the question I wished Diane Sawyer would have asked her is, "If you're out, why were you so upset that they mentioned your sexuality?" It's not like she was closeted and they outed her without her consent. Was she ashamed of herself?

A lot of the parents of gay people I know were against gay marriage before they knew the truth about their children. Usually their perspectives changed a little. And before you know it, they're escorting their son or daughter down the aisle during a committment ceremony. This is of course a best-case scenario. A lot of the time, there's pain and disownership and hatefulness.

But I don't think you're obligated to get your dad elected VP if he's so embarrassed by your orientation and actively works everyday to make sure your relationships can never be legitimized.

Mary Cheney is about to make a boat load of cash ($1M according to newspaper accounts) and has turned being a gay Republican into a career. (Does anyone really believe that Coors would have hired her if her father wasn't a representative from Wyoming and an important Republican?) She is an adult, supposedly politically astute individual that voluntarily joined her father's campaign, which supported an anti-gay marriage amendment to the US Constitution.

Feel sorry for her because Gore and Edwards mentioned her during the debates? Hell no, she made herself fair game. I would have a lot more sympathy for her if she told Bush "fuck you" every time he preaches about the sanctity of marriage but for some reason I doubt that she does.

As to her father, where is he now? The only time I have ever heard him say anything about the anti-gay marriage amendment is when it was politically advantageous during the campaigns for President. Come on Dick. . .show us the Republican “big tent” and your love for your daughter. Get out in front of an anti-anti-gay amendment movement in the Republican Party.

Brian in VA

I think we should stick it to her. Like her father has stuck it to the rest of America and the world. These people give no mercy and should be shown none for themselves

And here's some gasoline!

Mary Fucking Cheney's or Traitorous Bitch's, your choice, guttersmut of a book deserves no mention, no spotlight and no "choice words" from our community. It should only dimly see the light of day from the bottom of the local bookstore's remainder bin. She deserves everything that she has done for us, which in a word is nothing.

In the words of Buzz Hauser, "I long for the day when somebody says, 'Who's Mary Cheney?'"

We are ALL used by politicians for their own political gain. It's how the system works. Kerry and Edwards used my money and my vote. They tried to use Mary Cheney's sexual orientation, to no avail. But the point is, had Kerry won, gays and lesbians in this country would be better off, to some degree. That's what she should focus on.

But as Tim Grieve suggested, she deserves a little slack on some level. Being the gay daughter of someone like Dick Cheney means her chances of becoming well-adjusted are nearly impossible.