People are obviously exceedingly complex creatures, and I'm not in any position to play armchair psychoanalyst to the Cheney family. What I will say, though, is that these stories highlight the fundamental evil at the heart of today's Republican Party. The policies being pursued by Karl Rove are motivated by a desire to exploit other's unbridled prejudice. The millions of people rallying behind the call to "protect marriage" are doing so out of hatred for people different than themselves. They've never sat down and broken bread with someone who has struggled to come to grips with their sexual identity. Today America is still in a battle over how to discuss sexuality. Christians are still trying to determine if they think contraception is OK! Shit, Brokeback Mountain got pulled from some theaters! We've gotten to the point where it seems only people who live in urban areas, who have had a chance to interact with actual gay people, have any idea about what they're actually like. The vast majority of middle America seem to be OK with denying these people access to basic legal rights like health care, parenthood, custody, or inheritance.
Like with contraception, the issue remains whether we ignore it or not. Young people have sex. Poor women get pregnant, and have abortions because they are unprepared/ill-equipped. Likewise, gay families exist. They love one another, children form bonds with their parents, and lives are torn apart when these families come up against legal barriers reinforced by hatred.
Why do Log Cabiners, why do the Cheneys, insist on fighting against their own families? Why do they help the people who hate them? Surely Lynn Cheney sees the reality of her daughter's life. Surely by now she understands that her daughter didn't choose to be gay, to undergo the trauma and pain that comes from being different from everyone around you, from having to 'disappoint' your family. Surely she must know that the issue that put her husband and his minion in power is the same issue that threatens her daughter's way of life. Likewise, for Log Cabiners, why do they fight for a party that doesn't want them?
I imagine that there is a hope among these groups that if people only knew how nice LGBT people can be, if James Dobson could just see how nice a family meal at the Cheney's can be, that they'd let go of their murderous hatred for anyone not a heterosexual. This line of thinking is downright preposterous. Republicans are in power specifically because their hatred of gay people got them there. Without gay people to hate, their agenda would be lost. Similarly, with birth control, they've tied the issue to abortion, their other ace-in-the-hole. The fact that decreasing access to birth control is increasing the rate of abortions is immaterial. Those dead fetuses of poor women are fueling their Caribbean golfing expeditions. Let's be frank: being a Log Cabin Republican is like being a Jewish Nazi. No matter how hard you try to fit in, at the end of the day you're still headed to the gas chamber, but before you go they're gonna come around and take the gold out of your mouth.
In the end, it appears that the Cheney's care more about power than they do about principle, or even their own family. Not a surprise, but disappointing just the same.
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