News
2007-05-24
Mary Cheney gives
birth to baby boy
It's a boy
for Mary Cheney
Mary Cheney, the
lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, gave
Mary Cheney, the
lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, gave
birth to an 8-pound, 6-ounce baby boy at 9:46 a.m. Wednesday
at Sibley Hospital in Washington. Cheney and her
partner of 16 years, Heather Poe, named their son
Samuel David Cheney. The White House released a picture
of Lynne and Vice President Cheney with the boy, their sixth
grandchild.
Cheney and Poe
live in Virginia, which has a constitutional amendment
banning the marriage of same-sex couples and does not allow
gay second-parent adoptions.
Those
prohibitions leave the new parents without the safety net
that heterosexual couples enjoy, according
to Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of
Family Pride, a D.C.-based LGBT family advocacy group.
“There’s a question of whether they could even
replicate through legal contract the rights and
protections that they might have if they could get
legally married,” Chrisler said.
Chrisler has not
had direct contact with either Cheney or Poe, though
Family Pride has sent them informational literature in the
past. To celebrate the birth, the organization will be
hosting a virtual baby shower at its Web site, www.familypride.org/baby/, where
people can write in with their thoughts and advice for
the couple.
“There is
a community of GLBT parents out there already and they are
full of wisdom,” said Chrisler. “We want
to welcome them into the community with us.”
Chrisler added
that Vice President Cheney’s newborn grandson and the
boy's two mothers “put yet another face on our
families” for the American public. (The
Advocate)
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