メアリー・チェイニーが妊娠

同性愛を公表したチェイニー米副大統領の娘が妊娠
2006.12.07
Web posted at: 20:23 JST
- CNN/AP

ワシントン──同性愛者であることを公表している、チェイニー米副大統領の娘、メアリー・チェイニーさん（３７）が、妊娠中で、来春にも出産する予定であることが明らかになった。メアリーさんの父親は、同性愛を認めないブッシュ政権の副大統領であるだけでに、様々な議論を呼んでいる。

メアリーさんは約１５年前から、ヘザー・ポーさん（４５）とパートナー関係にある。チェイニー副大統領夫妻は、メアリーさんの妊娠を喜び、６番目となる孫の誕生を心待ちにしているという。

同性愛者を擁護する側に立つ団体は、メアリーさんが約１年前に引っ越ししたバージニア州が、先月から全米で２７番目となる同性婚を禁止した州となったことを指摘。

子どもをもうけた２人が、同性婚を禁止していない州に移ったとしても、「父親」役となるポーさんは誕生する子どもと、法的に正式な親子関係を結ぶことは非常に難しいだろうとしている。

同団体の代表、ジェニファー・クライスラーさんは、２人が「どれだけ子どもを愛していたとしても、男女カップルの間に生まれた子どもと同等の保護を受けられないという現実に、早い段階で直面するだろう」と述べ、「祖父になるチェイニー副大統領は、自分が属する政権がこれまで、数多くの同性愛カップルやその子どもたちに冷たい仕打ちを行ってきたことの結果として、眠れない夜を過ごすことになるだろう」と話している。

また、キリスト教系の保守団体は、メアリーさんの妊娠を「不道徳」だと非難。「副大統領の娘という立場にある女性が、父親のいない子どもをこの世に送り出すことは、非常に落胆すべきことだ」としている。

一方、同性愛者の権利を訴える団体は、メアリーさんの妊娠を好意的に受け止め、「メアリーさんとヘザーさんの決意は、様々な形の家族が共存する米国にとって、良いお手本になる。家族の原点は愛と責任だ」と、歓迎している。


同性愛の娘が妊娠＝米副大統領

　【ワシントン6日時事】6日付の米紙ワシントン・ポストは、チェイニー米副大統領の娘で同性愛者のメアリーさん（37）が妊娠し、来春にも出産の予定だと報じた。妊娠の詳しい状況については明らかになっていないが、同性結婚の是非は米国で大きな争点になっており、出産した場合の政治的な影響を懸念する声も出ている。　

（時事通信） - 12月7日9時1分更新

Groups mixed on Mary Cheney's pregnancy
By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer
Wed Dec 6, 9:09 PM ET

Conservative leaders voiced dismay Wednesday at news that Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Dick Cheney, is pregnant, while a gay-rights group said the vice president faces "a lifetime of sleepless nights" for serving in an administration that has opposed recognition of same-sex couples.

Mary Cheney, 37, and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, 45, are expecting a baby in late spring, said Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for the vice president.

"The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation" to the arrival of their sixth grandchild, McBride said.

Mary Cheney was an aide to her father during the 2004 campaign, and now is vice president for consumer advocacy at AOL. She and Poe moved from Colorado to Virginia a year ago to be closer to the Cheney family.

Family Pride, which advocates on behalf of gay and lesbian families, noted that Virginia last month became one of 27 states with a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

"Unless they move to a handful of less restrictive states, Heather will never be able to have a legal relationship with her child," said Family Pride executive director Jennifer Chrisler.

The couple "will quickly face the reality that no matter how loved their child will be. ... he or she will never have the same protections that other children born to heterosexual couples enjoy," Chrisler said. "Grandfather Cheney will no doubt face a lifetime of sleepless nights as he reflects on the irreparable harm he and his administration have done to the millions of American gay and lesbian parents and their children."

For years, Mary Cheney's openness about her sexual orientation had posed a dilemma for conservative activists who admire Dick Cheney's stance on many issues but consider homosexuality a sin.

Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America described the pregnancy as "unconscionable."

"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 Crouse, a senior fellow at the group's think tank. "They are encouraging people who don't have the advantages they have."

Crouse said there was no doubt that the news would, in conservatives' eyes, be damaging to the Bush administration, which already has been chided by some leaders on the right for what they felt was halfhearted commitment to anti-abortion and anti-gay-rights causes in this year's general election.

Carrie Gordon Earll, a policy analyst for the conservative Christian ministry Focus on the Family, expressed empathy for the Cheney family but depicted the newly announced pregnancy as unwise.

"Just because you can conceive a child outside a one-woman, one-man marriage doesn't mean it's a good idea," said. "Love can't replace a mother and a father."

The vice president's office declined to elaborate on the circumstances of Mary Cheney's pregnancy.

The news was welcomed by the president of the largest national gay-rights group, Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign.

"Mary and Heather's decision to have a child is an example that families in America come in all different shapes and sizes," he said. "The bottom line is that a family is made up of love and commitment."




Washington Post
Mary Cheney and Partner Are About to Be Moms
By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts
Wednesday, December 6, 2006; C01

Mary Cheney, the vice president's openly gay daughter, is pregnant. She and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, are "ecstatic" about the baby, due in late spring, said a source close to the couple.

It's a baby boom for grandparents Dick and Lynne Cheney: Their older daughter, Elizabeth, went on leave as deputy assistant secretary of state before having her fifth child in July. "The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation to the arrival of their sixth grandchild," spokesman Lea Anne McBride said last night.

Cheney, 37, was a key aide to her father during the 2004 reelection campaign and now is vice president for consumer advocacy at AOL. Poe, 45, a former park ranger, is renovating their Great Falls home.

News of the pregnancy will undoubtedly reignite the debate about gay marriage. During the campaign, Mary Cheney was criticized by gay activists for not being more publicly supportive of same-sex marriage. Her father said people "ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to" but deferred to the president's policy supporting a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. Cheney herself called the proposed amendment "a gross affront to gays and lesbians everywhere" in her book, "Now It's My Turn: A Daughter's Chronicle of Political Life," which was published in May.

Cheney has described her relationship with Poe -- whom she took to last year's White House dinner honoring Prince Charles and Camilla -- as a marriage. The two met in 1988 while playing ice hockey and began dating four years later. They moved from Colorado to Virginia a year ago to be closer to Cheney's family. In an interview with the Post six months ago, when asked if she and Poe wanted children, Cheney said that was a "conversation I think I should have with Heather first."

In November, Virginia voters passed a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions; state law is unclear on whether Poe could have full legal rights as a parent of Cheney's child. The circumstances of the pregnancy will remain private, said the source close to the couple. This is the first child for both.