Mary Cheney gets married

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Mary Cheney, the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, got married to longtime partner Heather Poe Friday.

“Mary and Heather have been in a committed relationship for many years, and we are delighted that they were able to take advantage of the opportunity to have that relationship recognized,” the Cheneys said in a statement. The news was first reported by the Daily Caller, a conservative Web site.

“Very happy to announce that as of this morning, Heather and I are legally married (at least in DC),” Cheney wrote on her Facebook page, according to People magazine. “20 years to the day after our first date.”

Cheney, 43, a former AOL exec who later moved into political consulting, met Poe, 51, formerly a park ranger, in 1988 while playing ice hockey. They have two children, a boy born in 2007, and a girl born in 2009. They married in Washington, where gay marriage is legal; the couple lives in Northern Virginia.

While Cheney has been openly gay since her father was in the George W. Bush administration, her wedding is another sign that gay marriage increasingly lacks the stigma it once had. (Another: David Blakenhorn, who testified against gay marriage in support of California’s Prop 8 in 2008, has written aNew York Times op-ed announcing his change of heart).

An AP poll released Friday found that 42 percent of respondents oppose gay marriage in their states, 40 percent support it and 15 percent are neutral. Republican opposition to gay marriage remains high — 68 percent disapprove, according to an April Pew poll

Cheney and her father have both been criticized by gay activists for not more forcefully defending gay unions.