Mary and Heather Have a Boy

Mary Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, and her partner Heather Poe welcomed their son Samuel David Cheney into the world this morning. He weighed eight pounds, six ounces, thus ending my short-lived “guess his vital statistics” game.

I’ve written several times before about Mary Cheney and will do so again. I’ll avoid writing anything more about her today, though, because regardless of what I think of her, I wish her the same as I would any new mother: peaceful time with her now-expanded family. It would just be bad karma to criticize her today.

I will, however, make a few comments on media coverage of the event: The White House released a careful photo of Dick and Lynne Cheney with the baby. The media is showing this, along with older photos of Mary and Heather, but none of the two moms with the baby. This is so obviously a concession to the ultra-right as to be laughable.

The New York Times Caucus blog says “Ms. Cheney, an executive at A.O.L. and official in her father’s reelection campaign, will raise the boy with Heather Poe, her longtime partner.” I ask you, would any journalists say “Jane Doe will raise the boy with John, her longtime husband”? No—they’d say something more along the lines of what the Associated Press did (at the LA Times and elsewhere): “Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter Mary delivered an 8-pound, 6-ounce baby boy on Wednesday, the first child for her and her female partner of 15 years, Heather Poe.” ABC News also got it right with the clunky, though accurate, “Mary Cheney, the vice president’s lesbian daughter, had her first child this morning at Sibley Hospital in Washington, D.C. . . . His parents are Mary and her partner, Heather Poe.”

I’ll do a more extensive review of media coverage if the developing stories warrant it, as well as more on Mary’s role in the LGBT community. For the moment, though, let’s be grateful for this opportunity to raise LGBT-family visibility, and use the headlines about Mary as starting points for discussion with our own friends, family, and communities.

If you wish to send a message to the Poe-Cheney family, you may do so through Family Pride’s Digital Baby Shower.

All the best to you, Samuel David Cheney. May you find your own path.