Republican Family Values

As has been obvious for at least six months, perennial losing candidate Alan Keyes' daughter Maya is an open lesbian. Keyes' response? According to Maya, she has been kicked out of the house and her parents have refused to pay for any further college tuition. As Julianne Malveaux points out in her always-trenchant column in USA Today,

The ultimate biblical teaching on human relations is
to "love your neighbor as yourself." Where is the
love in the hateful speech that Alan Keyes focused
on Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Vice
President Cheney, when he described her as a
"selfish hedonist"? Where are the family values in
his decision to put his own daughter out because of
her sexuality?

When I think of "family," I think of Free Frank, the
slave ancestor of University of Texas Professor
Juliet Walker, who purchased himself, then his
spouse, then his children and several relatives. His
commitment and tenacity, even in the face of an evil
system, is one of the highest manifestations of family
values. Would Alan Keyes, if in Free Frank's
position, have left daughter Maya behind simply
because she is gay?

As the commenters at Daily Kos have pointed out , the difference between the Cheneys and the Keyes is that the former actually love their lesbian daughter (though they will still use her as a political football). Keyes is simply an idiot. Sadly, "he's not the only one." Gary DeMar responds to Malveaux's column with this in(s)anity:

Let’s suppose Ms. Malveaux’s daughters
joined a terrorist organization? Would she
continue to fund her child’s college
education? What if she learned that her son
was a pedophile or a rapist? Would she
continue to subsidize her behavior by giving
her sanctuary to continue his lifestyle
choices? Would it be wrong for my wife and
me to kick my son out of our house if he
joined the Ku Klux Klan?

Mr. DeMar is wrong on so many counts, but let me relate the first few that pop into my head:

1. Keyes supported Maya for a long time while knowing she was an open lesbian.
2. Being openly gay, or even being a "queer liberal activist" is not the equivalent of being a pedophile, rapist or a member of a terrorist organization (like the Ku Klux Klan).
3. Homosexuality is not a "lifestyle choice."

Integral to Keyes' (and DeMar's) rhetoric is the promotion of "family values." There are many many families who plead for their convicted murderer/rapist/pedophile/terrorist not to be executed/severely punished by the state. My point (and Malveaux's) is why is it that homosexuality trumps family values when in almost every other instance their stated position is that family trumps everything else?

UPDATE [02/24/05 10:54AM] Maya Keyes has given an interview to Metro Weekly, a Washington, D.C. Gay an Lesbian newsmagazine.