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A Public Display of Family Values

OPINION: Last week's rapture of love and support for Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin and her unwed, pregnant daughter was a a far cry from the attention shown to Mary Cheney, lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, when she hit the packed convention four years ago with her partner, Heather Poe.
An Advocate.com exclusive posted September 9, 2008
A Public Display of Family Values

Right: Front, center, and pregnant -- Bristol and Levi

Last week's rapture of love and support for Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin and her unwed, pregnant daughter was a rather uplifting spectacle.

That's right: Ignore the eye-rolling cynics. The compassion and public face do indeed underscore how support and dignity are necessary values for families to embrace when they are all-too-often beset by overwhelming life changes.

That said, odds are the support is not entirely unconditional and is rendered depending on moral circumstance.

When the world learned that 17-year-old Bristol was expecting, her camera-ready, proud family was praised by the GOP at large as well as numerous conservative organizations that issued press releases and public statements commending them for their "pro-family values" (in the words of Focus on the Family). The dedication to "sanctity of life" trumped the sin of premarital sex (perhaps the fact that the age of consent is 16 in Alaska also helped overshadow the transgression).

And despite numerous suggestions that the issue was a "private" matter, when mom-to-be Bristol arrived at a Twin Cities airport with freshly scrubbed baby daddy Levi Johnston in tow, they were very publicly greeted by presidential nominee John McCain, who offered warm embraces as a phalanx of cameras captured the event.

Similarly, after Senator McCain wrapped up his acceptance speech Thursday night at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center, he was joined onstage by his wife, Cindy, and their extended kin, as well as Governor Palin and her family, which included -- you guessed it -- fiancé Levi. 

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Hegedus is a New York-based journalist and immediate past president of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.
Keywords:  2008 Election 
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Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

  • Name: Randy
    Date posted: 2008-09-11 11:56 PM
    Hometown: Baltimore MD

    Comment:

    It is interesting to me that Ms. Palin has expressed her happiness that her daughter will have the baby and raise it with her young husband. Does this imply that she made a "choice" and that there might have been another way to go? Hmmmmmmmmmmm! Also, maybe Ms. Palin should rethink her position on "abstinence only" sex-ed programs. They just don't seem to work all that well these days.


  • Name: Jeff
    Date posted: 2008-09-10 7:23 PM
    Hometown: San Francisco

    Comment:

    The reason they are not making more of this issue is the Dem's have a more accepting and liberal mindset. Can you imagine if the situation was turned around and Biden's 17 old was pregnant? The "holy rollers" would be screaming from every pulpit. (I mean political podium) It goes to show you the hypocrisy of religious right and how they have kidnapped the Republican party.


  • Name: Marshall N Brown
    Date posted: 2008-09-10 6:22 PM
    Hometown: Seattle WA

    Comment:

    The hypocrisy of the Republican Party has been made manifest again. Why this is not exploited on a larger stage than The Advocate continues to puzzle me.


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