Maya Keyes Interview
@ yubanet:
As you may know, Alan Keyes has a gay daughter. Unlike that old softie, Dick Cheney, he seems none to pleased about it. And unlike Mary Cheney, Maya Keyes, who was planning to enter Brown University as a freshman, is loud, proud -- and homeless. Dad threw her out.
Maya these days is currently residing with individuals affiliated with PFLAG, or Parents, Friends, and Family of Lesbians and Gays. She was able to keep a bag of her belongings at a friend's house. She's been using library computers to communicate.
Coming out of the closet to her parents was more of a process, however, than an event, she recalls. "My parents have known I was queer for a couple of years now. They were in denial about it. They thought I was just queer in a phase. And after a while they said, we can't support the decisions you're making. It's not just that I was queer that was a problem, but that I was willing to talk about it."
Well, Mr. Keyes, the Lord works in mysterious ways. Enter The Point Foundation.
On Thursday, the Point Foundation, a Chicago-based charity that provides scholarships to students "who have been marginalized because of their sexual orientation," decided to pay Maya's expenses so she can begin her studies at Brown. "Many of the students we support have been disowned by their families because they've been honest about who they are," said the foundation's executive director, Vance Lancaster. "Maya's situation is especially poignant because of her father's position, but it's a situation that happens every day to hundreds of kids across the country." This year, Point has received more than 1,200 applications for about 40 scholarships.
Maya Keyes is looking for answers to all those conservatives who e-mail her about how she's going to burn in hell and to all those liberals who e-mail her about how she's a traitor because she won't disavow her father. And then there are the people who think she's a whiny brat, "that I'm immature for thinking that I want my parents to talk to me."
So quick, who is exemplifying family values here?
As you may know, Alan Keyes has a gay daughter. Unlike that old softie, Dick Cheney, he seems none to pleased about it. And unlike Mary Cheney, Maya Keyes, who was planning to enter Brown University as a freshman, is loud, proud -- and homeless. Dad threw her out.
Maya these days is currently residing with individuals affiliated with PFLAG, or Parents, Friends, and Family of Lesbians and Gays. She was able to keep a bag of her belongings at a friend's house. She's been using library computers to communicate.
Coming out of the closet to her parents was more of a process, however, than an event, she recalls. "My parents have known I was queer for a couple of years now. They were in denial about it. They thought I was just queer in a phase. And after a while they said, we can't support the decisions you're making. It's not just that I was queer that was a problem, but that I was willing to talk about it."
Well, Mr. Keyes, the Lord works in mysterious ways. Enter The Point Foundation.
On Thursday, the Point Foundation, a Chicago-based charity that provides scholarships to students "who have been marginalized because of their sexual orientation," decided to pay Maya's expenses so she can begin her studies at Brown. "Many of the students we support have been disowned by their families because they've been honest about who they are," said the foundation's executive director, Vance Lancaster. "Maya's situation is especially poignant because of her father's position, but it's a situation that happens every day to hundreds of kids across the country." This year, Point has received more than 1,200 applications for about 40 scholarships.
Maya Keyes is looking for answers to all those conservatives who e-mail her about how she's going to burn in hell and to all those liberals who e-mail her about how she's a traitor because she won't disavow her father. And then there are the people who think she's a whiny brat, "that I'm immature for thinking that I want my parents to talk to me."
So quick, who is exemplifying family values here?
posted by bluememe at 2/16/2005
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