Liz Cheney: 'Not Pro-Gay Marriage'

Cheney takes the position even though she has a lesbian sister, and a father, the former vice president, who supports marriage equality.

Senatorial hopeful Liz Cheney said today that she is definitely “not pro-gay marriage” — even though she has a lesbian sister, and their father, former vice president Dick Cheney, is a marriage equality supporter.

In a statement released by her campaign organization, Liz Cheney said, “I am strongly pro-life and I am not pro-gay marriage,” reports The Daily Caller, a conservative news website. “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,” she continued.

Cheney released the statement after accusing U.S. senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming of distorting her views on these subjects. Cheney is challenging incumbent Enzi for the Republican senatorial nomination in 2014. She said Wyoming residents were being “push-polled” — polled with leading questions — by Enzi’s campaign, with the query, “Are you aware that Liz Cheney supports abortion and aggressively promotes gay marriage?”

Cheney’s sister, Mary, is in a same-sex marriage, having wed longtime partner Heather Poe in Washington, D.C. Their father is on record as a supporter of equal marriage rights.

Liz Cheney, a former Fox News commentator, has seen a variety of controversies over her Senate bid, with some questioning if she is a legitimate resident of Wyoming, having spent much of her life in the D.C. area.