Vice President Dick Cheney revealed that his sixth grandchild, the first out-of-wedlock child for lesbians Mary Cheney and Heather Poe, will be a boy. He broke the news to ABC News Radio, the Washington Post column Reliable Source reported today.
Said Cheney: “I'm delighted I'm about to be a grandparent for the sixth time. I'm looking forward to the arrival of a new grandson.”
When asked about the same-sex family's legal standing, Cheney said: “I think each state ought to have the capacity to decide how they want to handle those issues…And I obviously think it's important for us as a society to be tolerant and respectful of whatever arrangements people enter into.”
Mary Cheney spoke about the child in February at Barnard College. She said: “When Heather and I decided to have a baby, I knew it wasn't going to be the most popular decision. [points to womb] This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate, on either side of a political issue. It is my child.”
She also defended same-sex parenting, placing her at odds with the positions of the Bush administration's religious right-wing base: “Every piece of remotely responsible research that has been done in the last 20 years has shown there is no difference between children raised by same-sex parents and children raised by opposite-sex parents; what matters is being raised in a stable, loving environment.”
The baby is due next month.
