February 10, 2005

• Yeah, this guy's a dick. I sent her a buck - if everyone offended by this does the same, she'll be good to go for a while - she has a paypal link on the blog, put up at the request of several commentors.
• Those are some family values there.
• I'm sending a couple of bucks too. What an asshole prick.
• I can't find the paypal link...
• Me too. And, shouldn't it be specific to her benefit? While Equality Maryland may be a great cause, seems as though her current problem deserves more attention.
• I'd throw my kid out if she ever started talking about "anjuls".
• If you read her latest entries, it looks like she's had plenty of offers from relatives who aren't still in 1066.
• teh ghey strikes again!
• Reading Maya's blog, it's obvious to me that she's her father's daughter. And I mean that in a good way. Alan Keyes has a bunch of strange ideas, many of which I very strongly disagree with, but it's clear that he's passionate about ideas, passionate about making the world a better place (with his definition of "better"), passionate about being a principled human being. All of these core values Maya has inherited. She's just come to different conclusions on a variety of issues. If you raise your child to be thoughtful, principled, activist, and independent, then you'd better be prepared for the possibility that they'll be all those things but make different choices than you. Choices that you may strongly disagree with. It's a shame that Alan Keyes apparently doesn't understand this. I'm probably projecting a little bit, as I was something of an alternate father-figure to my 10-years younger sister. I cultivated these same sorts of values in her, and they took hold. Strongly. But where I'm an atheist, she's an evangelical. This is uncomfortable for me, but I respect her choices and I respect her. Alan Keyes should respect his daughter even though they disagree. It's obvious that she deserves respect.
• It's not just that they disagree; she's a homo and he hates her for it. She has something about her that Alan believes comes from poor moral character, while the rest of us understand comes from birth. Being gay isn't like being a Democrat, something she'd have control over. Maybe she can stay at Obama's house for a while...
• Man, why didn't he just kick her in the ass, since he was so clearly on a roll? What a creep.
• OK, I agree that Keyes is a dick, but his views were well known so this doesn't surprise me...but just how old is this girl? Can't she get a job that doesn't involve living off Daddy? I wouldn't give her a cent...there are many more deserving of my charity. And what the fuck is an Anjul?
• Being gay isn't like being a Democrat, something she'd have control over. Just yesterday I was reminded that a large contingent of people - in this case a lot of African-American religious people - believe otherwise. It's cultural to some extent . . but does it have to be?
• If Alan Keyes thinks his daughter is going to magically become ungay Best-case scenario, he could be cutting ties in order to save his own ass politically. But that's probably not the case; just saying that there are a lot of possible motives. Good post, kmellis.
• Thanks. And, sigh, it really shouldn't matter whether being gay is a choice or not. There's nothing wrong with it, choice or biology.
• How old is she? Don't know. But, speaking as someone who worked for his father (and mother, and alongside my brother) for several years, it's not necessarily charity or "living off daddy." It's a job, and she was fired from that job for favoring indoor plumbing. Legal in the US, but morally reprehensible. No, it's not surprising, coming from Keyes, but if this is what he considers "family values," you can count me as being opposed to family values.
• She's 19, I think. And she didn't really solicit help, other people encouraged her to add the paypal link. And she says that she thinks a bazillion people are more deserving, including one close friend of hers that's homeless. At 19 she can get a job and find another place to live. I'm more upset on her behalf with regard to her not being able to attend Brown. But, as one commenter mentions, it's not uncommon for children to suddenly be cut-off from their parents and unable to continue paying for school. Some colleges are sympathetic and will work around it.
• Rocket88: RTFA - she put her ac ademic studies on hold to work for her Dad, and he's now kicked her to the kerb. That's why she's fucked, money wise. And, given the way that many US colleges seem to base financial aid eligibility of parental wealth irrespective of actual relationship with parents, she's presumably going to be fucked again trying to go to college. Ahh, I loves the smell of Family Values in the morning. It's the smell of hate.
• Exactly, rodgerd. Since when did love not become a family value?
• She's presumably able-bodied and employable, and has some kind of support system of friends and extended family she can rely on temporarily. The PayPal link is disgusting, and erodes any respect I might otherwise have had for her.
• She's presumably able-bodied and employable Love ya, Rocket, but that's such bullshit. There are plenty of presumably able-bodied and employable people out there that are assed-out because of the sad state of affiars people like her father have left the job market in. That aside, yeah, the paypal link can make one leery, but considering what her current mental state might be, she could have been open to suggestion. When someone advised her to throw the link up there, she did. It's not unheard of.
• The paypal link is one that people asked her to put up so they can give her money. You seem awfully keen to find reasons to not like her.
• for favoring indoor plumbing Heh. *puts $1 in MCT tip jar*
• The paypal link is one that people asked her to put up so they can give her money. She could have easily said "No, thank you". You seem awfully keen to find reasons to not like her. Don't hold back...say what you mean.
• I like cheese
• She could have easily said "No, thank you" And live on the street? Why would you blame her, she needs to feed and house herself while she finds another way to live. Give it a break, it's not like she's looking for huge donations, people offered her money, she has NOTHING, you'd do the same friggin thing.
• Alan Keyes is nothing more than a low-grade bigot with questionable mental faculties. Who's surprised by his miserable actions? rocket, I'm no fan of personal paypal links, but there are occasions when they are inoffensive and perhaps necessary. This, I think, is one of those times. Don't give anything to her if you think she's a fraud, but your bitching about it while not even bothering to comment on the bigoted stance of her asshole father is revealing.
• copper: Revealing of what? Why can't people have the balls to actually accuse me of something concrete so I can respond to it? Also, read my first comment. My first take on this was a priveleged rich girl is suddenly cut off from the family millions. The reason why is irrelevant. That she would ask for money from others bothers me. Keyes is an extreme right-winger, and for that I don't like him. But family spats like this happen every day for various reasons. This one isn't special.
• Unrelated to my previous point, but I found this interesting (From Wikipedia): In late September, rumors were published by freelance weblogs that caught the attention of newspapers alleging that Maya Keyes, daughter of the candidate, was a lesbian as indicated in a weblog allegedly written by her. The original source of the story noted that he found a link to a weblog [10] (http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=xmisled0youthx) he believed to have been written by Maya Keyes through a private weblog published by Maya Keyes' friend and campaign aide Gerald Farinas. Keyes and his family neither confirmed or denied the accusations but however excoriated the press for what he called "scandal-mongering nonsense." When asked by the Chicago CBS affiliate of the issue Alan Keyes remarked, "You're asking me a personal question, right, in terms of what I'd say to a family member. And that has to be governed by my personal conscience, and my personal conscience is shaped by my faith, and my faith is very clear: That homosexual relationships are sinful and wrong, and I will not facilitate my children, whom I love, in going down a path that, according to my faith, leads to a kind of death that's worse than physical death. You don't love somebody if you become the facilitator of the destruction of their spiritual and moral life." To the Chicago NBC affiliate Alan Keyes said, "I consider the eternal salvation of my children to be the real aim of my parenting, not how they feel today, not how they look today, but whether or not they shall be pleasing and acceptable to God. You can bet I won't betray that truth for the sake of any ambition, any office, any election on the face of this Earth because I promise to you that the hearts of my children are far more important to me than anything I can achieve in this election or anything else the world has to offer me."
• rocket: I think your posts reveal that you are more offended by her having a paypal link than by her father's bigotry. That's all. Your quotation from Alan Keyes does show what a misguided, moronic idiot he is. Thanks for reinforcing that point.
• But family spats like this happen every day for various reasons. This one isn't special. I'm assuming you're straight, rocket88, so I'll just have to tell you that you're just 100% wrong on this one. I'm telling you this with all respect, no smarm at all. You're very simply dead wrong that this is just a "spat". This is self-described "loving" parent disowning a child entirely. Sorry.
• Um, while I have nothing but solidairty-style love for her and all that... We've known for ages that she was a lesbian - the stuff quoted by rocket, above, that wasn't rumours. There were pictures, clearly identifying her, it wasn't secret and it wasn't particulalrly hidden. She hadn't publicly announced it, but she wasn't hiding much either. And, after that, she still campaigned for her father. Her father who was quite open about his hatred for her, for many of her friends, for something that was at the core of her very being. She wasn't just a photo-op daughter trotted out when necessary - she took an active and (to some degree, even factoring in family pressures) willing stand to support her father and his views. Now she's gone public, and is subject to the same bigotry from her father that she was willing to ignore (to some degree, again) up until that point. And it's only then she makes with the "Sad boo". Personally, I don't hold any particular ill-will against her, but I can sure as hell see why some would be inclined to kick this particular charity bowl away in anger.
• The girl is only 19. Flash, she's learning a hard lesson about how life works. She isn't Roy Cohn.
• I've never understood why most people seem to be incapable of seeing another point of view that starts from (to them) a radically different premise. If I believed in a literal Hell and eternal damnation, and I believed that homosexuality was a choice that led to it, then I'd feel and think the way that Alan Keyes thinks about this. He says he has his daughter's best interests at heart, and I'll believe him until I have reason to believe otherwise. However, here is a possible reason to be skeptical of his motivations: is he more likely to save her soul by cutting her off or by continuing to communicate with her and love her? The latter, I think. So this may well be about him, and not about her.
• I think it's safe to say there's more to this situation that what we think we know. Keyes didn't just find out his daughter was gay. He's known for a while. If he's disowned her recently, there's something else to it.
• I love lesbians, but what do I get for my donation?