Liz Cheney Is the Only Cheney Who Opposes Gay Marriage

It wouldn't be surprising for a the more conservative candidate in the Republican Senate primary in the very Republican state of Wyoming to come out against gay marriage — if that candidate were anyone except Liz Cheney.

It wouldn't be surprising for a the more conservative candidate in the Republican Senate primary in the very Republican state of Wyoming to come out against gay marriage — if that candidate were anyone except Liz Cheney. Cheney's sister, Mary, is married to a woman, with whom she has two children. Her father, of course, is Dick Cheney, the former vice-president who lobbied the Maryland state legislature to pass gay marriage in 2012. Her mother, Lynne Cheney, supports gay marriage too. It seems a little cold, but that seems to be Liz Cheney's style.

A push poll reportedly asked Wyoming voters, "Are you aware that Liz Cheney supports abortion and aggressively promotes gay marriage?" As The Daily Caller's Alex Pappas reports, Cheney responded with a statement saying, "I am strongly pro-life and I am not pro-gay marriage." The statement goes further than the usual states' rights argument against the Supreme Court forcing states to accept more liberal laws on social issues:

"I believe the issue of marriage must be decided by the states, and by the people in the states, not by judges and not even by legislators, but by the people themselves."

Not even by legislators? Someone has to make the laws. Perhaps this means Cheney only supports making marriage laws through voter referendum? 

That Cheney is willing to risk personal relationships for the sake of her political career fits a pattern. Cheney is running against three-term Republican Sen. Mike Enzi, who has known the Cheneys for years. She called him a "terrific senator" just last year. After she declared her primary campaign against him in July, Enzi told The Washington Post, "I thought we were friends."