Dick Cheney, who was George W Bush’s vice-president, and voiced support for same-sex marriage, has died. He was 84.
In a statement, his family said Cheney died from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease. He was surrounded by his wife, Lynne, and daughters Liz and Mary, as well as other family members, Sky News reported.
Cheney was vice-president between 2001 and 2009, having been defence secretary and president Gerald Ford’s chief of staff.
One of the most polarising vice-presidents of the 21st century, Cheney was a leading advocate of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, two years after the 9/11 attacks.
Alongside daughter and US representative Liz, he became a notable critic of president Donald Trump,
Speaking in 2022 when Liz was considering running for the presidency, Cheney said: “In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who was a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election, using lies and violence to keep himself in power, after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward.”
Cheney was a rare Republican advocate for same-sex marriage
Cheney, whose daughter Mary is a lesbian, stood in opposition to George W Bush and the majority of the Republican Party’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights.
In 2004, he distanced himself from Bush’s calls for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, saying that “freedom means freedom for everyone”, adding: “People ought to be free to enter any kind of relationship they want.”
His support for same-sex marriage came more than a decade before the Supreme Court issued national protections for same-sex couples’ right to marry. In 2009, as debate on the subject grew, Cheney said that while he backed gay marriage, it should not be protected federally.
“I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish,” he said. “That’s the way it ought to be handled today: on a state-by-state basis.”
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