ABOVE: Rep. Liz Cheney, screenshot via the “60 Minutes” Facebook page.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), one of handful of Republicans who have criticized President Trump in his actions to attempt to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, has now said she “was wrong” to have opposed same-sex marriage.
Liz Cheney, whose sister Mary Cheney is a lesbian and married to a woman, made the comments during an interview on “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday night after Lesley Stahl asked the Republican about her one-time opposition to marriage rights for gay couples.
“I was wrong,” says Rep. Liz Cheney on 60 Minutes 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/YRGEzCw5Mp pic.twitter.com/MEVyKQCwlu
— Washington Blade (@WashBlade) September 27, 2021
“I was wrong. I was wrong,” Liz Cheney said, whose opposition to same-sex marriage had formerly made her estranged to her sister. The two have since reconciled.
“I love my sister very much. I love her family very much, and I was wrong,” added Liz Cheney, who appeared emotional. “It’s a very personal issue and very personal for my family. I believe my dad was right, and my sister and I have had that conversation.”
Cheney makes the comments after she has been ostracized by the Republican Party over her vote to impeach former President Trump and her participation in the congressional panel on the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Liz Cheney has publicly come to regret her former opposition to same-sex marriage after a sea change in public opinion on the issue. For the first time this year, a majority of Republicans, 55 percent, are in support of marriage rights for gay couples and a record high of 70 percent of Americans are behind it, according to a Gallup poll released in June.
Blade readers remember the public spat Liz and Mary Cheney had over same-sex marriage in the 2013, which reflected the division over the issue at the time among conservatives, when the former when first considering a congressional run.
Former Vice President Richard Cheney, the father of the two and considered an early supporter of same-sex marriage, with his spouse Lynne Cheney acknowledged in a statement at the time family conflict over same-sex marriage “is an issue we have dealt with privately for many years, and we are pained to see it become public.”
“Liz has always believed in the traditional definition of marriage,” Richard and Lynne said at the time. “She has also always treated her sister and her sister’s family with love and respect.”
Since that time, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide. Liz Cheney as a member of Congress never had an option to weigh in the issue of same-sex marriage, having been seated well after the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and the Federal Marriage Amendment were debated in Congress.
