Mary Cheney Gives Birth to Baby Boy

Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, gave birth to an 8-pound, 6-ounce baby boy at 9:46 a.m. Wednesday at Sibley Hospital in Washington. Cheney and her partner of 16 years, Heather Poe, named their son Samuel David Cheney. The White House released a picture of Lynne and Vice President Cheney with the boy, their sixth grandchild.

Cheney and Poe live in Virginia, which has a constitutional amendment banning the marriage of same-sex couples and does not allow gay second-parent adoptions.

Those prohibitions leave the new parents without the safety net that heterosexual couples enjoy, according to Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of Family Pride, a D.C.-based LGBT family advocacy group. "There's a question of whether they could even replicate through legal contract the rights and protections that they might have if they could get legally married," Chrisler said.

Chrisler has not had direct contact with either Cheney or Poe, though Family Pride has sent them informational literature in the past. To celebrate the birth, the organization will be hosting a virtual baby shower at its Web site, www.familypride.org/baby/, where people can write in with their thoughts and advice for the couple.

"There is a community of GLBT parents out there already and they are full of wisdom," said Chrisler. "We want to welcome them into the community with us."

Chrisler added that Vice President Cheney's newborn grandson and the boy's two mothers "put yet another face on our families" for the American public. (The Advocate)