If there were any lingering doubts over which daughter Dick Cheney backs in the family’s public feud on same-sex marriage, the former vice president has cleared it up.
It all started when his daughter Liz Cheney, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Wyoming, said last month on Fox News Sunday that she doesn’t support gay marriage, even though her sister, Mary Cheney, married a woman last year.
“It’s a difficult thing for a family to deal with,” Dick Cheney said in a interview on Tuesday night at the National Press Club, adding that he and his wife “were surprised when there was an attack launched against Liz on Facebook and wished it hadn’t happened.”
Following Liz Cheney’s remarks on gay marriage last month, Mary Cheney’s wife, Heather Poe, took to Facebook to respond. Mary Cheney shared the remarks on her Facebook page, too.
“Liz has been a guest in our home, has spent time and shared holidays with our children, and when Mary and I got married in 2012 — she didn’t hesitate to tell us how happy she was for us. To have her now say she doesn’t support our right to marry is offensive to say the least,” Poe wrote. “I can’t help but wonder how Liz would feel if as she moved from state to state, she discovered that her family was protected in one but not the other.”
Following Poe’s statement in November, the former vice president responded with a blanket statement issuing regret and confirming that Liz Cheney had long been a supporter of what she calls “traditional” marriage. The latest remarks further his defense of Liz.
“We’ve lived with this situation and lived with for many years and it’s always been dealt with in the context of the family,” Cheney said on Tuesday night.
Jane Timm