The Orbis

In February 2004, DontAmend.com, a non-profit organization dedicated to stopping the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, launched DearMary.com.

This Web site is directed toward Mary Cheney, Vice President Dick Cheney's openly gay daughter and re-election campaign head.

In the 2000 presidential election, the Republican Party exploited Mary Cheney and used her as a demonstration at "compassionate conservatism" and, in turn, sought to gain the votes and donations of homosexuals across the nation.

Four years later, just in time for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, Mary has essentially turned her back on her own cause as she continues to hesitate in speaking out against the prejudiced, anti-gay constitutional amendment that her father has helped propose.

Despite her good position to utilize her power and lineage to defend her principles and sexual orientation, Cheney has opted to remove herself from the public eye.

By doing so, however, she has become the target of millions of bitter, disenfranchised Americans who have donated more than $200,000 to activist groups to gain publicity for these issues.

Through DearMary.com, thousands of people of varying viewpoints, backgrounds and sexualities have posted open-ended letters to Cheney in hopes of gaining her attention and drawing support for the rights of same-sex couples to legally wed.

One of the immediate goals of DearMary.com is to circulate a mock missing persons advertisement for the Veep daughter.

The ad emphasizes that since the proposal of the constitutional amendment against gay marriage, Mary Cheney has conveniently disappeared from the activist roles she had previously filled: publicly working on gay rights issues, serving as the gay liaison for Coors and sitting on the board of the Republican Unity Coalition.

Many members of the gay community have begun to question Cheney's commitment to their rights and feel that she, along with the majority of the Republican Party, misused her sexuality to obtain votes wrongfully.

Now, working full-time on her father's re-election campaign, Cheney has shied away from the more serious gay rights issues for a salary of $100,000 -- a figure that forces many to ask: Dear Mary, are you truly willing to sacrifice your rights and the rights of millions of others for a mere hundred grand?

Though DearMary.com is relatively hostile toward Mary Cheney, the proprietors of the Web site maintain that the ultimate target of this campaign is Vice President Cheney.

Furthermore, Mary Cheney allowed herself to become the Republican Party's gay poster child, for she even attempted to gain the support of the gay community.

She said, "We can make sexual orientation a non-issue for the Republican Party, and we can help achieve equality for all gay and lesbian Americans."

Four years later, it is clear that this statement was just another broken promise of the Bush administration.

Fortunately, many activists, politicians and community leaders have banded together to combat President Bush's request for this constitutional amendment. Prominent supporters of gay marriage, who have voiced their views and aided the cause, include California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley, to name a few.

Whether it is by means of protests, news coverage or Web sites like DearMary.com, the controversial issue of the legalization of same-sex marriage has gained substantial support from both the homosexual and heterosexual communities.

This nonsensical situation ultimately leaves them to question: Dear Mary, if millions of Americans, including public figures, have expressed their support for this cause, why must you feel the need to shy away from the gay community when it so clearly needs you the most?

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