…and the baby is due in late spring 2007. She’s in a long-term relationship with Heather Poe.

A spokesperson for her conservative Republican father said, “The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation to the arrival of their sixth grandchild”. The Concerned Women for America called the pregnancy “unconscionable” and said that the news would damage the stature of the Bush administration among conservatives. A policy analyst for the conservative Christian ministry Focus on the Family, expressed empathy for the Cheney family.

Mary Cheney has said, “This is a baby,” and “This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate by people on either side of an issue. It is my child.”

Also, “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.”

Cheney and Poe live in Virginia which recently became one of 27 states with a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Virginia permits single gay and lesbian adoption but does not clearly prohibit joint gay adoption; and second-parent adoption is unclear in the state. Unless they move to one of a few less restrictive states, Poe may be unable to have a legal relationship with the child.

Mary Cheney did not speak publicly during the national debate about the Federal Marriage Amendment (an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would limit marriage to heterosexual couples and also ban civil unions and domestic partnership benefits). Pundits in both political parties are watching for Mary Cheney’s next move. Her father, Vice President Cheney, believes that the issue of gay marriage should be handled by the states.