Mary Cheney Considered Quitting 2004 Campaign Over Gay Marriage Issue

May 3, 2006 — -- She says she considered quitting her role as campaign adviser over the issue of gay marriage, but Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter Mary Cheney tells ABC News "Primetime" anchor Diane Sawyer her sexuality has never created problems within her family.

Mary Cheney discussed the campaign, her feelings about President Bush, life with her partner of 14 years, and what it was like to come out as gay to her parents.

"I struggled with my decision to stay on the 2004 campaign," Cheney told "Primetime." Her personal challenge came when President Bush said the nation must defend the sanctity of marriage.

When Bush proclaimed it in the State of the Union, she refused to go. Mary Cheney, a senior campaign adviser, was finally taking her stand.

"I didn't want to be there. No one banned me from being there. But I didn't want to stand up and cheer," she said.

She says the president offered to let her give a public statement in disagreement, and her father indicated publicly he disagreed with his boss on the issue. She declined but says she did talk with her family about quitting the campaign.

Cheney has had to deal with hearing hateful names about gays and lesbians from the right wing of her own party. And gay rights activists say that Cheney's silence is just a form of hypocrisy. They even made a milk carton that said, "Mary Cheney Missing."

She jokes about that. "That's ... ooh, God, that's a nice picture."

Her reply to their criticism is simple. "We each have to choose our own path," she said. "I respect their opinion. But it is not the path that I would choose for myself."

With everyone from reporters to politicians to activists offering their opinions about Mary Cheney and her choices, she said it's time for her to tell her own story in her political memoir, "Now It's My Turn."

Mary Cheney is very much her father's daughter. She even has her father's crooked smile. Growing up, she was a daddy's girl who, since she was a child, went with him on hunting trips and fishing expeditions.