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‘Actions, Not Words’: LGBTQ Activists Still Skeptical After Liz Cheney Admits ‘I Was Wrong’ on Same-Sex Marriage
U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) admitted she was wrong when, in 2013, she very publicly came out against same-sex marriage despite her sister being a lesbian who is married to a woman and raising two children together. But some in the LGBTQ community, along with activists and allies, are still skeptical, pointing to her record on related issues.
“I was wrong. I was wrong,” Cheney told “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired Sunday evening, but she also continued to insist marriage equality is a “very personal issue,” while it is actually a civil rights issue. She called it “very personal for my family,” saying, “I believe that my dad was right. And my sister and I have had that conversation.”
“I was wrong. I was wrong.” says Rep Liz Cheney about condemning same-sex marriage in 2013, a position that caused a split with her sister Mary, who is married to a woman. Rep Cheney says the sisters are now reconciled. “I love my sister very much.” https://t.co/EwRrkWDcT8 pic.twitter.com/KEdlqibZoJ
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 26, 2021
But her sister, Mary Cheney, made clear marriage wasn’t a “personal issue” eight years ago. It’s about civil rights.
“Liz — this isn’t just an issue on which we disagree — you’re just wrong — and on the wrong side of history,” Mary Cheney wrote on Facebook.
On Sunday Congresswoman Cheney, who has voted against the LGBTQ Equality Act and against reauthorizing the Violence Against Woman Act (VAWA), said of LGBTQ equality, “this is an issue that we have to recognize, you know, as human beings that we need to work against discrimination of all kinds in our country, in our state. We were at an event, a few nights ago and there was a young woman who said she doesn’t feel safe, sometimes, because she’s transgender, and nobody should feel unsafe. Freedom means freedom for everybody.”
While some see that as a marvelous transformation – Cheney was once also he founder and the head of an anti-Islam group, LGBTQ activists and allies expressed skepticism, or at least the need for more proof than just words.
Liz Cheney is an ambitious opportunist who threw her lesbian sister under the bus because she thought it would play well with Wyoming bigots.
She knew she was wrong then, but didn’t care.
I know it’s popular to praise her now for not being crazy, but she is not a nice person. https://t.co/4ZmykHzKf6
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) September 27, 2021
I can’t wait till I never have to listen to Liz Cheney again.Her saying she was wrong on same-sex marriage and saying that “no one [gay or trans] should feel unsafe” doesn’t explain why she voted against the #EqualityAct TWICE. She’s smart. She knows better. @60Minutes
— Victoria Brownworth (@VABVOX) September 26, 2021
Congratulations to Liz Cheney to catching up to uh most people? https://t.co/whG7BPVWAy
— Jane Coaston (@janecoaston) September 27, 2021
I will trust Liz Cheney’s statement on trans rights on “60 Minutes” when she supports the Equality Act in its current form. Because just a few months ago, she voted against it. Why? Because it fully supports trans rights.
Actions, not words, @Liz_Cheney.
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) September 27, 2021
Does this mean Liz Cheney will support the Equality Act?
Probably not, and she’ll offer transphobic reasoning because we’re not quite at the point where lawmakers like Liz Cheney take the right positions on trans rights until they’ve been shamed for many years.
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) September 27, 2021
Liz Cheney is 6 months younger than me, so she came of age when I did during the AIDS Crisis, and like the child of any wealthy Republican politician, she ignored it.
Her sister came out, she married her partner of 29 years, but Liz waited until 2021 to support marriage equality pic.twitter.com/ADT0IUusRo
— Geoffrey (@TheGeoffey) September 27, 2021
Great. So is she going to cosponsor and vote for the Equality Act then? She voted against it just this year. #lizcheney https://t.co/qTsfCyBnRb
— Konrad Juengling (@PDX_er) September 27, 2021
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