Interesting. This makes me think of the scene in Milk in which Harvey asked everyone to come out to their parents and said something along the lines of, "They vote for us two to one if they know they know one of us." I obviously don't know for sure, but I'm guessing part of Cheney's more liberal (than a lot of the rest of the Republican party) stance on this is due to his daughter.

Good point. The same thing happened with the Mayor of San Diego. He was totally against it, and then he just did a complete 180.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070920-9999-1n20sanders.html

Sorry, he did a complete 180 and said it was because his daughter is gay. I didn't complete my thought there.

"something we've lived with for a long time in our family." - as though it's a disease? I dunno. I'm glad he supports the right for everyone to marry, but I wish he wasn't so reluctant about it. I'm cynical.

I felt the same way about that comment dm8. If I were his daughter, I would be offended by that. Why is your child's sexual orientation something to "live with"?

Maybe he was referring to the fact that his family had "lived with" discrimination because his daughter was gay? Trying to give him the benefit of the doubt that he wasn't referring directly to his daughter's sexual orientation when he made that statement....

And TrueSong, thank you so much for posting the transcript - I usually can't watch these video clips at work, so I really appreciate that!

Martini, I was interpreting it more along the lines of what you said. Being gay, while not a disease, does bring a lot of stigma and prejudice upon a person. It's something they have to deal with, and if their family is loving and supportive, they'll have to deal with it, too. But of course people will interpret it as they see fit, it wasn't a terribly specific sentence.

But still, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Mr. Cheney making a public statement about this. There are lots of people who are criticizing him for not being forceful enough in his opinion, or coming out with it too late, but I say good for him. Any movement in this direction is positive.

Yeah I'm just kind of happy he's on this bandwagon of thought, I don't particularly care if that thought includes a potentially offensive sentence. Tolerance isn't about agreeing with the other side, it's about accepting that who you are and how you live isn't right for everyone. So he can see it as a disease/disability, though I tend to agree with Mich, as long as it is a disease that I'm allowed to have and not be discriminated against for.

dm8, To some families who struggle with accepting a Gay child it isnt all rainbows and parades, its a very long process to essentially "mourn" for what you thought your child was going to be and move on to the reality and become okay with it, embrace it. It doesnt mean they are cynical, or phobic, it means they had to change their mindset and be okay with it.

Much like families who cannot conceive, they have to deal with that fact and think about adoption, and its a struggle to move on from what you thought was supposed to happen.

CG, you just made me think of Sharon Gless's character, Debbie, on the US version of Queer as Folk, one of my all-time favorite shows.

I would SO be a PFLAG mom like her.

Gay Month proclamation. I'm sorry that's embarrassing and patronizing.

"historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. This has always been a state issue. And I think that's the way it ought to be handled today, on a state-by-state basis"

I kinda feel that way too but isn't the idea to learn from history and if the states ain't gettin it after decades of trying to decide whether to live up to the Federal guarantee of equal rights that at some point the Fed should step in and say okay you've had enough time to do the right thing, now it's our turn. I don't think they'll do that now because the wave is now moving in the equal rights direction but if it wasn't I think they'd have a very good reason to step in.

Em I love that show too. And Debbie was such a great character!

was she a character that was freaked out about her kid being gay at first?

The stigma and prejudice might go away more quickly if conservatives who have gay children spoke out more forcefully against discrimination directed at their children. Instead, many remain silent or privately accept what they condemn in public.

And Dick Cheney is hopefully one of the first in a long line of conservatives who are changing the status quo. I think we should applaud that and let other conservative leaders know that even the most far-left liberals would welcome their support on this issue.

Well at least he sees the light on the issue. Though I disagree about letting the states decide; the states have had time to bring equality and only a few have changed their laws. I believe the federal government needs to step in and make it legal across the nation.

The first this this man has said that I can agree with.

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Life is short. Enjoy it while you can.

Ah, CG, no she wasn't--when you said "rainbows and parades" I thought of her because she was at every single parade and wore all of these buttons and pins to support her son. She even went to the same bars as her son, and it mortified the cr@p out of him.

I miss the show, Sarah! I have some of the UK episodes on DVD too.

Em, as a QAF fan, I do believe she wasn't happy at first, but that had a lot to do with her brother being gay and what he went through...I'm not sure if he was diagnosed HIV+ yet. I know she didn't want the same struggle for her son or something like that. Of course she realized immediately that not supporting her son did more harm than good and she became a little overzealous.

Uncle Vic! Of course, Jessie. You're right. You're making me want to watch some episodes...I need some eye candy, too. And yes, a "little overzealous" is right.

Eye candy you say?

Or are you more of a Hal Sparks fan, Em?

Haha I'm a Brian Kinney fan of course. I see a myself in that character and I'm a rampant narcissist .

Some Brian love...is it strange I prefer men when they're gay? Hmmm don't answer that.

GALE HAROLD PLEASE! I love Hal Sparks too, though. And Randy Harrison. Eff it--all of 'em.

You got it!

Wahhh, I can't see it! The hotness is too much!

Oh noes!

Maybe this?

Or this?

Ummm...I dribbled water on my shirt.

OT from the blog post however On Topic with some comments... Gale Harold is .

He is.