The Cheney Pregnancy: How Do You Spell Heartburn?

Dec. 7, 2006 — -- It was news that was guaranteed to raise eyebrows across America: Mary Cheney, the vice president's openly gay daughter, revealed yesterday that she is pregnant and she will be raising the child with her partner, Heather Poe.

"I laughed," said influential liberal blogger Jon Aravosis of americablog.com. "I knew it was going to cause so much heartburn for everyone -- including the media -- because no one knows how to cover the story."

There was heartburn among conservative groups that have looked to Mary Cheney's father and his boss, President Bush, for leadership in the fight against gay rights and, in particular, against same-sex marriage.

"It's very disappointing that a celebrity couple like this would deliberately bring into the world a child that will never have a father," said Janice Crouse of Concerned Women of America, a conservative coalition that said it promotes "Biblical values and family traditions."

Crouse described Mary Cheney's pregnancy as "unconscionable."

There was also heartburn from gay-rights groups. Family Pride, which advocates on behalf of gay and lesbian families, said the vice president faces "a lifetime of sleepless nights" for his role in an administration that has vigorously fought same-sex marriage.

Just about the only people who aren't experiencing heartburn -- at least not publicly -- are the Cheneys themselves.

"The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation to the arrival of their sixth grandchild," Cheney's spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride told ABC News.

To conservatives, this is all about the sanctity of marriage.

"Just because you can conceive a child outside one-woman, one-marriage doesn't mean it's a good idea," said Carrie Gordon Earll, a policy analyst for the conservative Christian ministry Focus on the Family.

Mary Cheney is not speaking publicly about her pregnancy, but earlier this year she told ABC's Diane Sawyer that as she sees it, "Heather and I already are married. We have built a home and a life together. I hope I get to spend the rest of my life with her."

"The reality is that because of the Republican Party's ideology, her partner is unlikely to ever have the full rights of a mother unless they move to Massachusetts or New Jersey and have a ceremony that isn't legal or possible in any other of the 48 states in the union," said Charles Kaiser, writer and gay historian.

Clearly, that situation is all right with some conservatives.

"You can't replace a mother and a father," said Carrie Gordon Earll, at Focus on the Family.

Charles Kaiser has been with his partner for 28 years. He said marriage has never been something he has wanted. He quoted a line from singer Joni Mitchell, "We don't need no piece of paper from the city hall, keeping us tied and true."

"I think it is perfectly possible to declare your love seriously and permanently without the state's approval," Kaiser said. "What really is at issue is that any two people raising children having the same rights and privileges of a heterosexual couple. It is the legal rights that are important here and it is the legal rights that we deserve."

While it would take a change in the law for gay couples to have inheritance rights and the right to file joint tax returns, in many states it is possible -- with extensive and expensive legal assistance -- for gay couples to at least partially protect themselves.

But Mary Cheney and her partner live in Virginia, where the 2004 Marriage Affirmation Act not only prohibits recognition of same-sex marriage but also has the power to overturn private contractual relationships.

"Wait until her kid gets sick and her partner wants to go to the hospital and wants to see the kids and the state court says no you can't come in," said blogger Aravosis. "She has no rights. She could face custody if she divorced or dies. If she dies, who gets the child? What if her partner has an adversarial relationship with Mary's parents."

It's clear that Mary Cheney, a political adviser to her father, has thought about these issues. In that interview with Diane Sawyer she explained, "The way I look at it is, we're just waiting for state and federal law to catch up with us."