If the scandal was about Senator John Kerry and gay porn, that would be one thing. But Kerry and a gay pawn? Now that's something completely different.
Gay men and lesbians have reacted with anger to the latest twist in the US election -- but not with Kerry for bringing up the subject of Vice-President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter, Mary, during the presidential "Duel in the Desert" in Arizona last week.
ILLUSTRATION: YU SHA
No, gay people are furious that the Cheneys are, supposedly, furious, and that the mainstream media has whipped itself up into a frenzy over the issue.
Instead of headlines about Kerry's successful performance in the three debates and how they could project him into the White House, it's suddenly all about Mary.
The controversy arose after the moderator in last Wednesday's debate asked both candidates if they thought being gay was a matter of choice or birth. President George W. Bush responded that he did not know the answer. His Democratic challenger said:"We're all God's children. And I think if you talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's being who she was. She's being who she was born as. I think if you talk to anybody, it's not a choice."
Cheney is now officially quoted as an "angry father," while his wife, Lynn, is an "indignant mom," saying of Kerry: "This is not a good man. What a cheap and tawdry political trick." Kerry lost his edge again in some of the polls.
But Cheney himself frequently mentions Mary as his "gay daughter" on the campaign trail when he is trying to paint his party as compassionate conservatives, so being used is nothing new.
She is a leading light in the Bush-Cheney team, came out of the closet a few years ago and has worked as an advocate for gay-friendly employment rights in big corporations.
"The right are masters of turning people into political pawns. They invented it and now the Democrats are turning the tables. Kerry is being bold, strategically standing up for Mary, and the Republicans are shook up, that's all," said New York TV producer and gay rights commentator Nancy Swartz.
It is not clear if the Cheneys are angry at the politics getting personal in general or whether it is the specific public declaration of Mary's sexuality. Jane Czyzselska, editor of Diva, the UK monthly magazine for lesbians and bisexual women, has a simple theory as to why the media are so agitated. "A lot of the mainstream media are still scared witless of gay men and lesbians, and this ridiculous display of horror at the mention of Mary Cheney -- gasp -- the lesbian, just shows it," she said.
Mary lives openly with her long-term girlfriend in Colorado. If Cheney does not want conservative voters reminded of that, in a kind of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" silent-tolerance policy, then it's much too late.
She is not the first and she will not be the last individual to be dragged into the political spotlight. It's always hard for the person and their families. When the insincerity of political preaching is exposed by the personal hypocrisy of those involved, pawns have to come into play.
Bush is trying actively to ban gay marriage with a rare amendment to the Constitution. Neither Dick nor Mary Cheney will publicly condemn this move, with the Vice-President muttering that he loves his daughter and supports his president. Untenable?
"He stands behind his boss and she stands behind her father. Cheney is choosing Bush over his own family, and Mary is giving up a part of her identity," said Swartz.
For this reason, the gay community has been officially ambivalent towards its lukewarm champion Mary Cheney.
Meanwhile, right-wing Christians within the Republican movement call Dick Cheney's tactic the classic evangelicals' approach to awkward realities -- love the sinner, hate the sin. Bush is in this camp, expounding tolerance while pushing anti-gay policies. It's the same story with racial equality.
What Kerry did on Wednesday night was help to expose the double standards. Unfortunately for him, it backfired, and not only by sucking a couple of polling points away from what should have been his moment of glory.
Gay men and lesbians are furious with Kerry, not for using Mary as a political pawn but for exposing his own double standards. In the same breath, Kerry spoke passionately for gay freedom and for marriage as an institution that should be enjoyed only by a man and a woman.
Many in the gay community believe that the battle for marriage -- with rebel weddings and court challenges, among others -- has slowed down the campaign for equal rights on tax, employment and inheritance by goading conservatives into a backlash to defend their sacred institution.
But the cat is out of the bag and now so is Kerry's position -- he is against. But most gay voters will still choose Kerry as the lesser of two evils.
The real tragedy is that debates and headlines in 2004 even need to be about lesbianism as an "issue" when war, poverty, disease, dictatorship and genocide -- topics that are, rightly, much higher up Kerry's priority list -- are costing lives.
If the so-called issue of Contrary Mary ends up sinking Kerry's race for the White House, that would be the true scandal.
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