Republican Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney now supports gay marriage, she told CBS News’ Lesley Stahl during a Sunday appearance on 60 Minutes.
“I was wrong. I was wrong,” the congresswoman said when pressed on her position. Cheney famously broke with her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and younger sister Mary on the issue ahead of the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in Hollingsworth v. Perry. Dick and Mary Cheney voiced their support for gay marriage then. Mary has been married to her partner Heather Poe since 2012, and signed onto an amicus brief in support of gay marriage ahead of the case.
“I am not pro-gay marriage,” Liz Cheney said at the time. “I believe the issue of marriage must be decided by the states, and by the people in the states, not by judges and not even by legislators, but by the people themselves.”
“I was wrong. I was wrong.” says Rep Liz Cheney 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/EwRrkWDcT8 pic.twitter.com/KEdlqibZoJ
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 26, 2021
“I love my sister very much. I love her family very much. And I was wrong. It’s a very personal issue, and very personal for my family. I believe that my dad was right. And my sister and I have had that conversation,” she told Stahl.
Dick Cheney publicly opposed a proposed constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as between one man and one woman, breaking with the official position of the Bush administration.
“Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it’s an issue our family is very familiar with,” the then-vice president said in 2004. “With the respect to the question of relationships, my general view is freedom means freedom for everyone. People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.”
A record high 70% of Americans support legal same-sex marriage, a Gallup poll found in June. The number includes 55% of Republicans, also a record high. (RELATED: Republican Support For Gay Marriage Surpasses 50% For First Time Ever, Poll Finds)
Cheney is facing a primary challenge from former GOP committeewoman Harriet Hageman following her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, as well as her decision to sit as vice chair on the select committee investigating the riot. Cheney and Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger are the only Republicans on the committee.
Describing the race as “the most important House race in the country in 2022,” Cheney said she can “absolutely” win.