Mary Cheney gives birth to son

WASHINGTON – Mary Cheney gave birth Wednesday to perhaps the most anticipated baby in contemporary U.S. politics: her first child, Samuel David Cheney, whom she will raise with her longtime lesbian partner Heather Poe.

The 8-pound, 6-ounce boy is the sixth grandchild for Dick Cheney. The vice president and his wife, Lynne, both beaming, posed for a photo with the baby just hours after his 9:46 a.m. birth at Washington’s Sibley Hospital.

And that, it seems, will be that for now in terms of public comment from the family about the baby who launched a lively debate when Mary Cheney, 38, first discussed her pregnancy in December.

Some gay activists have chastised the AOL executive for not being a stronger advocate for same-sex marriage, while some social conservatives have decried the trend of gay couples raising children. But the Cheneys have avoided stepping into a debate about the debate. The veep became testy when CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked him about it in a January interview.

At an NYC forum sponsored by Glamour magazine last winter, Mary Cheney responded to questions saying: “This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate by people on either side of an issue. It is my child.” But she also went on to declare that “every piece of remotely responsible research” had demonstrated “no difference between children who are raised by same-sex parents and children raised by opposite-sex parents.”

Cheney and Poe, a former park ranger, have been together for 15 years and live in Great Falls, Va. And no, there’s no more word on how the pregnancy came about.