What to Expect When You're Expecting the Grandchild of a Snarling Vice President

Mary Cheney--yes, the gay one-- is pregnant.

Without getting into the technicalities of how such a pregnancy occurred, there are a few interesting political questions this insemination brings to the fore.

1. Will Cheney and her partner, former forest ranger Heather Poe, move from Virginia?

Virginia law explicitly bans gay couples and individuals from adopting. And just this year Virginia passed a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions. If Poe wants to be a legally recognized parent, then she and Cheney might consider moving to Maryland where this is possible.

2. Mary Cheney may have thrown her community under the bus in order to please her father, but will she do the same to her child's future?

They say you become conservative when you have something to conserve. Maybe Mary Cheney will become a liberal when she has a child she doesn't want gay-bashed on the streets, ostracized at school, and denied the rights of citizenship.

Probably not, but maybe she'll work a little harder to do good the next time she has a dad who is the Vice President of the most powerful country in the world.

3. Will the gay community finally realize that the most important and politically advantageous rights can be gained by changing gay adoption laws?

Gay marriage isn't the only way to legally codify gay relationships. Children of gay parents should be protected by the state in the case of divorce so that they are guaranteed the right to maintain relationships with both parents. States should recognize the parental rights of both parents so that during medical crises children have the benefit of dual support and decision making authority. The truth is, the only reasons I care about marriage are children and divorce. Isn't that what tying the knot is all about?!


So congratulations to the oddly coifed couple-- you'll make great parents. And so will millions of other gay people around the world for whom you've done absolutely nothing in the past 6 opportunity-filled years!