As conservative as former Vice President Dick Cheney is, there’s one issue on which he’s been quite progressive: marriage equality. In fact, Cheney supported same-sex marriage as far back as 2000, when the vast majority of politicians in both parties were still publicly opposed to the idea.
As Cheney said in 2004, “freedom means freedom for everyone” to enter “into any kind of relationship they want to.”
His daughter Liz Cheney, running for the U.S. Senate in Wyoming, apparently disagrees.
Liz Cheney flatly declared on Friday that she is “not pro-gay marriage.”
Cheney, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate in Wyoming, made the policy statement after accusing the campaign of incumbent Republican Sen. Mike Enzi of distorting her views on the subject through a campaign push poll.
Recommended
“I am strongly pro-life and I am not pro-gay marriage,” Cheney said in a statement released by her campaign. “I believe the issue of marriage must be decided by the states, and by the people in the states, not by judges and not even by legislators, but by the people themselves.”
For context, it’s worth noting that Mary Cheney, Liz’s younger sister and Dick’s other daughter, is openly gay and married her longtime partner just last year.
In other words, Liz Cheney is running on a platform of opposition to her own sister’s marriage — and even her legal right to get married. I’ve heard of politicians who struggle with “family values,” but this is remarkable.
Liz Cheney is to Dick Cheney’s right on the one issue about which he’s correct.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
