Answering a question about homosexuality, Sen. John Kerry mentioned Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter, Mary, during the presidential debate Wednesday night. Thursday both Dick and his wife Lynne Cheney expressed outrage over the comment on the campaign trails. One can only wonder what the problem is.

Kerry answered the question “Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?” posed by moderator Bob Schieffer by saying, “We’re all God’s children, Bob. And I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney’s daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she’s being who she was, she’s being who she was born as.”

The answer was a direct response to a question about homosexuality and clearly states that Kerry believes there is nothing wrong with being homosexual.

Mrs. Cheney went so far as to say that Kerry “is not a good man” and called the way in which he answered the question “cheap and tawdry.” The vice president characterized himself as “an angry father” before launching into a critique on Kerry’s stances on unrelated issues such as payment of troops in Iraq during a campaign speech in Lakeland.

Cheney had said earlier, “Lynne and I have a gay daughter, we have two daughters, and we have enormous pride in both of them.” At the same time, the vice president supported President George W. Bush’s Constitu-tional amendment, which would have blocked states from condoning gay marriage.

Mary has worked on the vice president’s re-election campaign since July 2, 2003. Previously she had worked as a personal aide to her father on the 2000 campaign, according to papers filed with the campaign committee. Any criticism of Mary would therefore have been justified, as she is not only Cheney’s daughter but also working closely with the vice president on his political campaign. But no such attack occurred.

Mary has also made it quite clear that she does not see problems with her own sexuality. Last week she attended the vice presidential debate with her partner and could be seen hugging her father after the debate. If she wanted to be secretive about her sexuality then she would hardly have taken her partner along.

If the Cheneys accept their daughter the way they claim to, then the vice president appears to have more of a problem with the Christian right finding out about Mary’s sexuality than he would like to admit. This could, after all, cost him votes in the election.