“A
selfish
hedonist.”
That’s
what
Alan
Keyes,
the
former
Illinois
Senate
candidate
and
outspoken
conservative
commentator,
called
Mary
Cheney
—
the
lesbian
daughter
of
the
vice
president
—
during
a
radio
interview
last
August.
Keyes
later
added
he
would
have
said
the
same
thing
to
his
own
daughter
if
she
were
a
lesbian.
“If
my
daughter
were
a
lesbian,
I’d
look
at
her
and
say,
‘That
is
a
relationship
that
is
based
on
selfish
hedonism.’
I
would
also
tell
my
daughter
that
it’s
a
sin,
and
she
needs
to
pray
to
the
Lord
God
to
help
her
deal
with
that
sin.”
And
according
to
Maya
Marcel-Keyes,
his
19-year-old
lesbian
daughter,
her
father
kept
his
word.
“‘Selfish
hedonist’
wasn’t
a
surprise
because
that’s
what
I
have
heard
before
growing
up,”
Marcel-Keyes
said
in
an
interview
with
the
Blade
this
week.
“I
was
surprised
he
made
it
so
public
because
my
dad
has
a
lot
of
integrity.”
Keyes,
who
ran
twice
for
the
presidency,
has
been
an
ardent
opponent
of
gay
rights
and
has
declared
that
if
the
“radical
homosexual
agenda”
is
accepted
“we
are
utterly
destroying
the
concept
of
family.”
During
Keyes’
failed
U.S.
Senate
bid,
bloggers
and
online
chat
rooms
were
abuzz
over
rumors
that
the
former
ambassador’s
daughter
was
a
lesbian.
Those
rumors
were
confirmed
when
the
gay
group
Equality
Maryland
announced
several
weeks
ago
that
Marcel-Keyes
would
be
one
of
its
featured
speakers
at
a
gay
rights
rally
in
Annapolis
for
the
group’s
annual
lobby
day.
Within
the
past
few
weeks,
Marcel-Keyes’
parents
have
stopped
communicating
with
their
daughter,
thrown
her
out
of
the
house
and
are
now
refusing
to
pay
her
college
tuition,
she
said.
Her
father’s
press
secretary,
Connie
Hair,
issued
a
terse
statement
about
his
daughter’s
participation
in
the
rally.
“My
daughter
is
an
adult,
and
she
is
responsible
for
her
own
actions.
What
she
chooses
to
do
has
nothing
to
do
with
my
work
or
political
activities.”
Marcel-Keyes’
speech
at
Monday’s
rally
had
less
to
do
with
going
public
about
her
sexual
orientation
and
more
to
do
with
highlighting
the
problems
of
“queer
kids
who
have
no
place
to
go,”
she
said.
She
dedicated
the
bulk
of
her
rally
remarks
to
a
gay
male
friend
named
Shymmer,
who
she
said
recently
died.
Marcel-Keyes
said
she
had
much
in
common
with
Shymmer;
both
were
raised
in
conservative
households
and
were
kicked
out
by
their
parents.
In
contrast
to
the
overwhelming
support
Marcel-Keyes
said
she
has
received
since
coming
out,
her
friend
was
living
on
the
streets.
“[He
was]
going
home
with
any
man
who’d
give
him
a
roof
over
his
head
for
the
night,”
she
said,
adding
that
Shymmer
eventually
“wound
up
with
some
people
who
just
abused
him
awfully.”
Marcel-Keyes
described
the
contrast
between
the
support
she
has
found
and
the
desperate
situation
of
her
friend
as
stark
and
unfortunate.
“The
first
time
something
goes
wrong
in
my
life
I
get
hundreds
of
people
offering
support,
prayers,
donations,
people
offering
me
spare
bedrooms
to
crash
in
and
telling
me
how
they
were
going
to
make
sure
that
I
got
through
school
alright,”
Marcel-Keyes
said
in
her
speech.
“And
Shymmer,
he’d
been
out
there
for
over
two
years
now;
been
hungry
and
freezing
and
beaten
up
and
raped
and
his
situation
was
so
incomparably
worse
than
mine.
And
what
support
was
offered
him?
He
got
the
support
his
handful
of
friends
had
to
offer,
but
where
is
the
community
that
offers
to
stand
in
solidarity
behind
him?”
Young
and
somewhat
insecure,
Marcel-Keyes
calls
herself
a
“liberal
queer”
and
admits
the
term
is
very
much
“in
your
face.”
She
puts
a
positive
spin
on
the
term,
noting
that
it
represents
a
chance
for
gay
men
and
lesbians
to
“reclaim”
the
word
“queer.”
Her
blog
includes
poems
and
lengthy
personal
entries.
Like
her
father,
she
is
strongly
pro-life,
noting
that
“the
child
in
the
womb
is
a
human
being
and
I
don’t
believe
in
killing
people.”
She
was
raised
Catholic
and
attended
the
conservative
Catholic
school,
Oakcrest
Preparatory
in
McLean,
Va.
After
graduating
from
high
school,
she
spent
a
year
in
India
working
for
a
Non-Governmental
organization
focused
on
tribal
rights.
She
said
her
parents
suspected
her
of
being
a
lesbian
shortly
before
she
graduated
high
school
when
they
discovered
a
copy
of
the
Washington
Blade
“or
some
other
gay
newspaper”
in
her
room.
They
told
her
that
homosexuality
was
a
sin
and
that
she
was
doing
something
very
wrong
by
“choosing
this
lifestyle,”
she
said.
She
has
two
brothers,
ages
22
and
15;
her
older
brother
has
offered
her
a
place
to
stay,
she
said.
Marcel-Keyes,
who
worked
on
her
father’s
failed
U.S.
Senate
bid
last
year,
said
she
loves
her
parents
and
understands
why
they
will
no
longer
pay
her
college
tuition
—
they
consider
it
financing
her
future
career
in
activism.
“I
totally
understand
that,”
Keyes
said.
“He
has
no
obligation
to
fund
my
education.”
Marcel-Keyes
said
she’s
leaning
toward
pursuing
a
degree
in
political
science
and
sees
herself
becoming
an
activist
focused
on
raising
awareness
of
homelessness
among
gay
and
lesbian
youth.
Following
the
news
that
her
parents
would
not
pay
for
college,
the
Point
Foundation
announced
Monday
that
it
has
granted
Marcel-Keyes
an
“honorarium
scholarship”
to
attend
Brown
University
in
Providence,
R.I.
this
fall.
The
Point
Foundation
provides
academic
scholarships
to
gays
and
lesbians
who
face
financial
hardship
because
of
their
sexual
orientation.
With
the
public
disclosure
of
her
sexual
orientation,
Marcel-Keyes
joins
a
growing
list
of
gay
children
whose
parents
are
prominent
Christian
or
conservative
leaders,
like
John
Schlafly,
son
of
social
conservative
leader
Phyllis
Schlafly,
and
Richard
Socarides,
whose
father
Charles
is
the
president
of
the
National
Association
...
