Happy Father's Day, Richard Bruce Cheney

By Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell

In recent years, it has been my custom on Father's Day to write about a father who has been open in his support of a member of his family who is lesbian or a gay man.  A few years ago, I wrote about a father who at the time was a seminary president and was dismissed from his position because he presided at the marriage ceremony of his lesbian daughter. Richard Bruce Cheney is, of course, Dick Cheney, our former vice president. Although I have disagreed with his worldview and some of his political positions, I have sought to not allow those differences to get in the way of my applauding the open support he has given to his daughter Mary, her long-time partner Heather Poe, and their child.

In his chapter entitled "Confession and Communion" in the work Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer addresses Christian fellowship: "The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner...Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous." As one who has never pretended to be pious, nor judged others in the fellowship because they too are unpious, I have found sustenance in Bonhoeffer's suggestion that we should learn to "fellowship as the undevout, as sinners....The fact is that we are sinners."

Both in church and society, we sometimes find it difficult to celebrate anything that is positive in those with whom we disagree. It is as though if we acknowledge that we deem an idea or conviction is positive, we automatically embrace all that the person has been and is. I do not want anyone to embrace all that I have been and might be, but I do hope they will not refrain from embracing that within me that they agree with and support, despite some differences.

In a recent appearance at the National Press Club, Dick Cheney said, "One of my daughters is Gay....I believe she and others should have the freedom (granted by the state) to enter into a union or marriage" (paraphrase).  One of the ironies of this moment is that while President Barack Obama supports same gender unions but not marriages, former Vice President Cheney believes same gender marriages, if affirmed by the state, are appropriate. Barack Obama is a president whom I supported and support, but I disagree with him on same gender marriage. A Vice President whom I did not support and do not support on some issues, nevertheless, I am in agreement with in his support of his daughter Mary and same gender marriage.

I believe that it is time in church and society for us to transcend right and left thinking and judgment. Ariana Huffington has written; "The seismic shifts in our society have rendered rights vs. left thinking as archaic as a flat earth map." I believe that when we in the United Methodist Church no longer view acceptance and affirmation of LGBT persons and same gender unions and marriages as a "left" issue and not a "right" issue, we--to our surprise--will discover "communion" (Bonhoeffer) as we have not known in recent years. More and more persons whom some describe as conservative are now openly expressing their support for same gender marriage as a Constitution-granted civil right. If this is happening in secular society, why not in the United Methodist Church?

"Former Vice President Cheney, I offer you a belated 'Happy Father's Day'--not because of your justifications of the war in Iraq, or enhanced interrogation of suspected terrorists, or your critiques of the current Administration's defense against possible terrorism--but because you as a father have not been silent in your support of your daughter Mary to be who she is, and to love and commit herself to whomever she pleases. May all of us as fathers, whether our children are Gay or straight, be as open and as bold in our support of them as you are of both of your daughters."

(A bit of history: The George W. Bush administration, I have learned, was the first administration when a President and Vice President in office at the same time shared the same denominational affiliation: The United Methodist Church).

Gil Caldwell