News
Cheney family feud reflects GOP division on marriage
Republicans ‘do not walk in lockstep’ on issue
The Cheney family is engaged in a public dispute on same-sex marriage (Photo public domain).
The public spat within the Cheney family over the issue of same-sex marriage has prompted many to suggest the flap is a microcosm of what’s happening in the Republican Party at large over LGBT rights.
An explosion of media coverage ensued this week over lesbian Mary Cheney taking to her Facebook page to publicly rebuke her sister, U.S. Senate candidate Liz Cheney, for stating her opposition to marriage equality on Fox News Sunday. “Liz – this isn’t just an issue on which we disagree – you’re just wrong – and on the wrong side of history,” Mary Cheney wrote.
In a statement provided to media outlets, former Vice President Richard Cheney, a supporter of same-sex marriage, along with his wife Lynne Cheney, articulated a sense of pain over the controversy.
“This is an issue we have dealt with privately for many years, and we are pained to see it become public,” Dick and Lynne Cheney said in the joint statement. “Liz has always believed in the traditional definition of marriage. She has also always treated her sister and her sister’s family with love and respect.”
Gregory Angelo, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, said the Cheney dispute demonstrates Republicans “do not walk in lockstep” on the issue of marriage equality.
“I think it shows there’s a lot more discussion that needs to happen both within the Republican Party and at dinner tables around the country in order to get more Republicans on the right side of this issue,” Angelo said.
Richard Socarides, a gay New York-based advocate and Democratic activist, also said the Cheney family conflict reflects the division among Republicans on the marriage issue.
“It’s uncanny how it exactly mirrors the divisions within the larger Republican Party,” Socarides said. “Cross generational agreement exists but there are still some geographic and ideological differences. It shows also that the GOP still has a long, long way to go and that most LGBTs are going to be more at home with the Democrats.”
The growing support for marriage equality among the GOP can be seen by three GOP senators coming out for marriage equality this year: Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
And support for same-sex marriage is growing among younger Republicans, although the party as a whole remains opposed to gay nuptials. According to a March 2013 analysis by Republican pollster Jan van Lohuizen and Democratic pollster Joel Benenson, a bare majority of 51 percent of Republicans under the age of 30 support the legalization of same-sex marriage in their state.
But the party’s official position on marriage equality is still opposed. In April, the Republican National Committee approved by voice-vote a package of resolutions that included a measure reaffirming the party’s opposition to same-sex marriage.
Liz Mair, a Republican political strategist who favors LGBT inclusion in the GOP, said Liz Cheney’s advisers are mistaken if they’re telling their candidate that opposing same-sex marriage will make her more favorable to Republican voters because that strategy hasn’t worked for other GOP candidates.
“They tend to want to adopt or play up very conservative stances on issues that aren’t top-five or even top-10 for many primary voters at all, and think that will give them a toehold from which they can claw their way into contention,” Mair said. “It rarely works, and we’ve seen this whether we’re talking about hardline rhetoric on immigration or tacking right, noticeably, on so-called ‘gay issues.'”
Liz Cheney may have wanted to use the marriage issue to gain traction against her opponent, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.). At the end of October, Enzi was ahead of Cheney 69 percent to 17 percent in a survey among likely primary voters conducted by Bob Wickers of The Wickers Group.
Mair said the more interesting question is whether Enzi, the incumbent, would be able to survive a primary challenge if he supported same-sex marriage.
“We’re not going to get to give that theory a test run, because Enzi does not support same-sex marriage, but the fact that it seems possible suggests what all the polling suggests,” Mair said. “This is an issue that is waning in importance for GOP primary voters and to the extent that it remains important, it’s because the number of self-identified Republicans who support the freedom to marry is increasing steadily, noticeably and consistently.”
The rebuke from Mary Cheney, who married her partner Heather Poe last year in D.C., also represents an evolution on her part after enduring criticism for not taking a strong enough position in urging her party to support same-sex marriage.
Mary Cheney in 2002 joined the advisory board for the now-defunct Republican Unity Coalition, a gay/straight alliance dedicated to making sexual orientation a ‘non-issue’ for the GOP.
But Mary Cheney didn’t stay with the organization. In 2003, the group criticized then-Sen. Rick Santorum for his now infamous comments comparing homosexuality to bigamy, incest and adultery when discussing sodomy laws.
During a 2003 appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Republican strategist and Cheney adviser Mary Matalin in turn rebuked the RUC for going after Santorum, saying the organization was “parroting” the Democratic interpretation of what Santorum said. About a week later, Mary Cheney resigned from the RUC, deferring media inquires to Matalin.
Even as Mary Cheney has criticized her sister for opposing same-sex marriage, she recently contributed $2,500 to the Romney presidential campaign despite his support for a U.S. constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
In 2004, John Aravosis, a gay political activist, started a campaign called “Dear Mary” to encourage Mary Cheney to speak out against a Federal Marriage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as she helped her father with the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign.
Aravosis, now editor of AMERICAblog, said he thinks Mary Cheney’s criticism of her sister is real and welcome, but still somewhat conflicted.
“Mary is running into a basic contradiction that gay Republicans face: Anti-gay bigots often don’t discriminate against us privately, but when in the public policy sphere they’re more than happy to,” Aravosis said. “Mary is finally coming to terms with that fact, and that’s great. But she needs to stop supporting anti-gay candidates overall, then I think people will accept her support unquestioningly.”
The situation also brings into question how the marriage issue will play out once the presidential primaries begin in 2016. What will be the fallout for potential candidates like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who opposes same-sex marriage, but withdrew an appeal before the Supreme Court on a court ruling in favor of marriage equality?
Mair said she doesn’t think Christie’s chances of securing the Republican presidential nomination are at all diminished by his decision to back down in the marriage equality fight.
“With some pockets of the GOP primary electorate, especially in a state like New Hampshire, they may be increased,” Mair said. “But like Liz Cheney and Mike Enzi, I would be highly surprised if Christie’s prospects in a primary hinged on his stance on same-sex marriage.”
Bigger issues, Mair said, would be his brashness, his stance on issues like guns and foreign policy, and whether he could hold his own against Hillary Clinton in the general election.
Angelo noted that Christie hasn’t made any personal statements regarding his feelings on marriage equality following his decision to withdraw the appeal to speak to whether they’ve changed.
“If anything, Chris Christie certainly has a strong independent streak and has not allowed himself to be defined by any one single issue for the entirety of his term of governor of New Jersey,” Angelo said. “I imagine that will likely be the case with the civil marriage issue as well.”
Poland
Polish court rules country must recognize same-sex marriages from EU states
Poland ‘must comply with European Union law’
Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court on March 20 ruled the country must recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other European Union states.
The EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg last November ruled in favor of a same-sex couple who challenged Poland’s refusal to recognize their German marriage.
The couple, who lives in Poland, brought their case to Polish courts in 2019. The Supreme Administrative Court referred it to the EU Court of Justice.
“Today’s ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court clearly demonstrates that Poland, as a member state of the European Union, must comply with European Union law,” said Przemek Walas, advocacy manager for the Campaign Against Homophobia, a Polish LGBTQ advocacy group, in a statement. “The Supreme Administrative Court rightly upheld the interpretation of the Court in Luxembourg and indicated that the only way to implement this ruling is to allow the transcription of a foreign marriage certificate.”
“This ruling is a significant step towards marital equality, but certainly not sufficient,” added Walas.
Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Slovenia, Malta, Greece, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia are the EU countries that have extended full marriage rights to same-sex couples. Poland — along with Romania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia — are the four EU countries with no legal recognition of same-sex couples.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary gala draws ‘sold out’ crowd
D.C. elected officials, mayoral candidates praise LGBTQ Democratic group
A sold-out crowd of 186 people, including D.C. elected officials and candidates running for D.C. mayor, turned out Friday, March 20, for the Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary celebration.
Among those attending the event, held at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery building next to the city’s Chinatown neighborhood, were seven D.C. Council members and four Democratic candidates running for mayor.
But at the request of Capital Stonewall Democrats leaders, the Council members, most of whom are running for re-election, and mayoral contenders did not give campaign speeches. Instead, they mingled with the crowd and focused on the accomplishments of the LGBTQ Democratic group over the past 50 years, with some presenting the group’s special “honor” awards to about a dozen prominent LGBTQ Democratic activists.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who was initially expected to attend the event, did not attend.
The mayoral candidates attending included D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) and former At-Large Council member Kenyan McDuffie, an independent turned Democrat, who are considered the leading mayoral contenders in the city’s June 16 Democratic Primary. Both have strong, longtime records of support for LGBTQ rights issues.
The other two mayoral candidates attending the event were Gary Goodweather, a real estate manager, and Rini Sampath, a cybersecurity consultant. Sampath told the Washington Blade she self-identifies as queer. Both have expressed strong support on LGBTQ-related issues.
The D.C. Council members attending the event included Lewis George; Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large); Anita Bonds (D-At-Large); Robert White (D-At-Large); Matt Frumin (D-Ward 3); Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member; and Charles Allen (D-Ward 6).
“Tonight we celebrate not just 50 years of history but 50 years of showing up,” Howard Garrett, Capital Stonewall Democrats immediate past president, told the gathering in opening remarks. “Showing up when it was easy, showing up when it wasn’t popular,” he said, adding, “This work only continues if we continue to show up.”
He noted that the deadline for joining the organization in time to be eligible to vote on its endorsement of candidates running in D.C.’s 2026 election was midnight that night. He urged attendees who were not members to go to two tables at the event to join.
The group’s current president, Stevie McCarty, thanked the group’s longtime members who he said played a key role in what he called its historic work in building political support for the D.C. LGBTQ community. Among those he thanked was Paul Kuntzler, 84, one of the group’s founding members in January 1976, when it was initially named the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club.
Members voted to rename the group the Capital Stonewall Democrats in 2021.
Among the LGBTQ advocates who were honored at the event was Rayceen Pendarvis, the longtime host of a D.C. LGBTQ online interview show that included interviews of candidates for public office. Pendarvis also served as emcee for the Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary event.
“Thank you everyone in this room who has done the work to make this world a better place,” Pendarvis said in opening remarks. “To all our prestigious activists in the room, all of our amazing politicians in the room who are doing the work, we love you and we honor you.”
Among the honorees in addition to Pendarvis was Malcolm Kenyatta, the Democratic National Committee’s vice chair who became the first openly LGBTQ person of color to win election to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2018.
Other honorees included Parker; Earl Fowlkes, founder of the International Federation of Black Prides; Vita Rangel, a transgender woman who serves as deputy director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments; Heidi Ellis, director of the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition; and Philip Pannell, longtime LGBTQ Democratic activist, Ward 8 civic leader, and longtime Capital Stonewall Democrats member.
The 50th anniversary event included an open bar and refreshments and entertainment by three drag performers.
The Washington Blade on Wednesday spoke with Max Polonsky, a queer American who lives in Israel, about the Iran war and its impact on the country.
“It’s been tiring,” Polonsky told the Blade during a telephone interview from his home in Jaffa, an ancient port city with a large Arab population that is now part of Tel Aviv.
Polonsky grew up in Cherry Hill, N.J. He lived in D.C. for eight years before he moved to Israel in March 2022.
Israel and the U.S. on Feb. 28 launched airstrikes against Iran.
One of them killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran in response launched missiles and drones against Israel and other countries that include Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, and Cyprus.
An Iranian missile on March 1 killed nine people and injured 27 others in Beit Shemesh, an Israeli town that is roughly 20 miles west of Jerusalem. Shrapnel from an Iranian missile that struck a hair salon in Beit Awa, a Palestinian town in the West Bank, on Wednesday killed four women and injured more than a dozen others.
An Iranian drone that hit a command center in Kuwait on March 1 killed six U.S. soldiers: Sgt. Declan Coady, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, Capt. Cody Khork, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, and Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien. Another American servicemember, Sgt. Benjamin Pennington, died on March 8, a week after Iranian drones and missiles targeted the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
Iranian drones and missiles have damaged hotels, airports, oil refineries, and other civilian and energy infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, and elsewhere. Israel on Wednesday attacked Iran’s South Pars natural gas field in the Persian Gulf.
The Associated Press notes roughly 20 percent of the world’s crude oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz that connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Gas prices in the U.S. and around the world continue to increase because the war has essentially closed the strategic waterway to ship traffic.
The war also left hundreds of thousands of people who were traveling in the Middle East stranded.
The Blade on March 6 spoke with Mario, who had stopped in his native Lebanon while traveling from the U.S. to India for work.
Mario was about to board a flight at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, on Feb. 28 when the war began and authorities closed the country’s airspace. Mario is now back in the U.S.
Polonsky told the Blade there were “alarms all day … sometimes multiple alarms an hour, sometimes every hour, every two hours” on Feb. 28.
Israel’s Home Front Command typically issues warnings about 10 minutes ahead of an anticipated Iranian missile attack. Sirens then sound 90 seconds before an expected strike.
People in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and in other cities in central Israel have 90 seconds to seek shelter if a rocket or missile is fired from Lebanon or the Gaza Strip. (Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shia militant group in Lebanon that Israel and the U.S. have designated a terrorist organization, launched rockets at the Jewish State after Khamenei’s death. Israel, in turn, continues to carry out airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, killed upwards of 1,200 people when they launched a surprise attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip.) People who live close to Lebanon and Gaza have 15 seconds to seek shelter.
Polonsky has a safe room — known as a “mamad” — in his apartment. Polonsky also uses it as his home office and a second bedroom.
He told the Blade the alerts in recent days have become less frequent.
“We’ll get maybe a handful of alarms during the day, maybe some at night,” said Polonsky.
Israel on June 12, 2025, launched airstrikes against Iran that targeted the country’s nuclear and military facilities. The subsequent war, which lasted 12 days, prompted the cancellation of Tel Aviv’s annual Pride parade. An Iranian missile destroyed Mash Central, the city’s last gay bar.
Iran on Oct. 1, 2024, launched upwards of 200 ballistic missiles at Israel. This reporter arrived in Israel three days later to cover the first anniversary of Oct. 7 and the impact the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip had on LGBTQ Israelis and Palestinians.
‘Iranian regime was bad’
Polonsky admitted he doesn’t “know what to think” about the latest war against Iran.
“I don’t know what I think about the war,” he said. “Ultimately what happens is just not in my personal control: whatever Donald Trump, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, the ayatollah, whoever is running Iran are going to organize and launch attacks and reach any deals is not anything I personally have any control over, so I try to just kind of let that aspect of it go as I’m living my life.”
Polonsky told the Blade he understands “there are very serious questions about how” the war started, and Congress’s role in it.
“Those are serious and valid, important questions,” he said. “And at the same time, the Iranian regime was bad.”
Polonsky noted Iran has supported and funded Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthi rebels in Yemen, and other groups “who were attacking Israel.” Polonsky added the Iranian government has “terribly oppressed their people.”
Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death.
Reports indicate Iranian authorities killed upwards of 30,000 people during anti-government protests that began late last year. Sources with whom the Blade spoke said LGBTQ Iranians are among those who participated in the demonstrations.
“I’m not sad to see them pressured,” said Polonsky, referring to the Iranian regime.
He also described Khamenei as “a bad guy.”
“Him not being there is better,” said Polonsky.
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