Hypothetical WI: US President's Child Gay?

This is a hypothetical question that I have been curious about for a while, but, but hypothetically, what would happen if a son or daughter of the President came out as Gay? (Just to clarify, im looking for a Time Period after the 1960's, as before, you really would not come out as Gay, it also doesen't have to be a RL President ethier)


How would the Media react to one of the First Children being Gay? how would the American Public react, and how would it effect Gay Rights if at all?




This can also apply to a member of the Royal Family in Britain, if you want.
 
This is a hypothetical question that I have been curious about for a while, but, but hypothetically, what would happen if a son or daughter of the President came out as Gay? (Just to clarify, im looking for a Time Period after the 1960's, as before, you really would not come out as Gay, it also doesen't have to be a RL President ethier)

How would the Media react to one of the First Children being Gay? how would the American Public react, and how would it effect Gay Rights if at all?

This can also apply to a member of the Royal Family in Britain, if you want.

Dick Cheney's daughter Mary Cheney is a lesbian, and is one of the reason's the Vice-President has been Pro-Gay Rights. I imagine it wouldn't impact much if it's 1990, maybe the Prez can be more encouraging of gay rights in the 80's, but the 70's is likely not where it would be very public. These are just my estimates BTW.
 
Dick Cheney's daughter Mary Cheney is a lesbian, and is one of the reason's the Vice-President has been Pro-Gay Rights. I imagine it wouldn't impact much if it's 1990, maybe the Prez can be more encouraging of gay rights in the 80's, but the 70's is likely not where it would be very public. These are just my estimates BTW.




I was mainly going for the President, but I wasen't aware of that, to be honest, interesting.


Yeah I mean, The earliest I would allow the discussion to begin would be the 1970's, but I didn't really think it would have much of a impact unless it was the 1980's.
 
Well, it depends. A liberal president, like, say, Obama, would get yelled at a little bit more by the far right, but would otherwise be unaffected. An otherwise conservative President would probably lose some far right voters, but might gain some Democratic voters who would have voted Republican other than that issue. In either case, not much difference up here, but I can't speak for the rest of the country.
 
It would depend on the time frame. I could see it being politically harmful for a politician to have a gay child until the mid-90s, as homosexuality was sometimes chalked up to bad parenting, but the media probably wouldn't cover it in great detail, as going after the President's children was seen as ethically dubious. After that, it would be probably be a humanizing factor, unless they were anti-gay marriage. That being said, I can't find many politicians with gay children who would be credible Presidential contenders, although Newt Gingrich's sister is a prominent gay rights activist, which would make for an interesting timeline.
 
It would depend on the time frame. I could see it being politically harmful for a politician to have a gay child until the mid-90s, as homosexuality was sometimes chalked up to bad parenting, but the media probably wouldn't cover it in great detail, as going after the President's children was seen as ethically dubious. After that, it would be probably be a humanizing factor, unless they were anti-gay marriage. That being said, I can't find many politicians with gay children who would be credible Presidential contenders, although Newt Gingrich's sister is a prominent gay rights activist, which would make for an interesting timeline.

Dick Cheney is the best shot we have IOTL. Have President Bush killed on 9/11, and Cheney elected to a full term in 2004. We have a lesbian First Daughter for almost 8 years in that scenario.

I imagine though that there would be massive indifference by the American public, although the President's far-right opponents would use it as a political issue, and the LGBT community might use her as a rallying symbol.

However, Mary Cheney would be an adult by the time her father would be theoretically President. I am more curious about a child that goes into the White House at Malia or Sasha Obama's age, and comes out of the closet as a teenager during their father's/mother's Presidency.
 
It is difficult if we're strictly playing with existing gay relatives of politicians. And I know a lot of board members would call butterflies on a politician having a different child and then 18-?? years later still winning the presidency.

But just for the sake of thought experiment:

Kennedy: Still not really an option because his kids were so young. I guess if one showed very early tendencies the family might send them off to Aunt Rose's fate.

LBJ: Talk about unpredictable. My guess is he bans them from the White House, adds the flak to the pile, but reconciles as soon as he's out of office. Very likely to go to work for gay rights early, probably advancing the cause.

Nixon: Could cost him the election no matter how he plays it. If he's in office and it happens, he will count on the goodwill of the press to bury the story and they will probably comply. This is actually true of anyone up through Nixon; the press is going to be very accommodating. But post-Nixon the jadedness sets in and nobody gets a pass.

Ford: Probably tries for the "no comment" approach but gay rights gets a high-profile ally anyway. People are already uncertain after Watergate and just want to get through the next two years without anything falling off the country. So probably fairly low-impact, all things considered. Ford doesn't win the nomination in '76.

Carter: I would hope for better from Carter, but my gut tells me that he's friends with Billy Graham who's friends with some even more unsavory types. I'm guessing they go full-on "gay conversion" on the kid with very unpredictable results. Maybe they can pull off the act for a few years and send all the wrong messages to the world about homosexuality. Maybe it doesn't work and we see a stronger focus on the human rights aspect of homosexuality.

Reagan: So media slick and probably unwilling to play the dour role of the lordly father, banning his deviant son or daughter. I'm guessing we see the Cheney approach. "I love my daughter privately but don't condone her activities." And in the meantime we might actually get some earlier official support on the right for the position that people are born gay, heck, maybe even some legislative support when it comes to hate crimes.

Bush I: Similar to Reagan with more likelihood of an "evolving" position post-presidency.

Clinton: Stereotyping makes me think he'll do everything cosmetic and nothing concrete to support gay rights. But if Congress sends him DOMA...I just can't see him being that cold-hearted. But if he makes it personal, we could see more Democrats break ranks to overturn the veto. Could be a more vocal proponent of civil rights and non-discrimination but marriage is still going to be an issue for the states. Incidentally Hillary would probably have come on-board a lot sooner. They might even use their media presence to walk a middle line; Hillary clearly pro-gay rights, Bill doing some exploring.

Bush II: Compassionate conservatism would encompass a more nuanced Cheney position. If both Bush and Cheney have gay children on the ticket, I think we have a massive issue during his term. I think if the kid is anything like his OTL daughters the paparazzi makes homosexuality a daily presence in the White House briefing room. He probably supports all of the same stuff as Clinton with Laura occasionally out-flanking him on the left with support for marriage. And we could see the president actually go to a gay wedding ITTL while in office. Big split in the anti-gay movement results. If the gay movement doesn't split, he could lose the '04 election, as gay rights were a primary social fear his team used to win the election IOTL.

Obama: Obama's ATL gay kid is unlikely to be of consenting age, but we could see ramped up support for gay rights a little sooner.
 
In the 50s or earlier they are scetly given nasty aversion therapy

I think at least one Kennedy was given a lobotomy at a young age, not (I think) for the reason specified in the OP, but, yeah. (Googling, reading...)

Fwiw, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/13/eunice-kennedy-shriver-rosemary-kennedy helps outline the potential for a lobotomy as the potential "solution" for "aberrant" behavior,

The procedure was seen by some as the solution to a wide range of mental disorders, ranging from depression to schizophrenia and quite mild retardation. Some saw it as a way of dealing with misfits such as communists, gay people and disobedient children. Freeman, who went on to perform between 3,500 and 5,000 of the 50,000-odd lobotomies carried out in America until the early 1960s (a similar number were performed in the UK), used an icepick and rubber mallet to go through the top of the eye socket. It took 10 minutes; he eventually was doing it in a travelling van, his lobotomobile, and allegedly even in hotel rooms. He called the procedure "soul surgery", and claimed it relieved suffering – which, in some cases, it undoubtedly did.
 
This can also apply to a member of the Royal Family in Britain, if you want.

This would have to happen really early to be a big deal. Assuming its post legalisation in 1967 then there are no real issues. Many, many royals have been suspected of being homosexuals or at the very least bisexual / in the closet in history (and in the current generation as well).

Most likely they would be bundled off to the colonies if prior to '67. Post '67 they would just have a lower profile or married off to preserve the illusion. If they "came out" then the Monarchy would survive - much like it survived Princess Anne's (and later Charle's and Andrew's) divorces and the marriage of Prince Michael of Kent to a Catholic

It would cause a problem with the heir or reigning monarch due to the link to the Anglican Church
 
Kennedy: Still not really an option because his kids were so young. I guess if one showed very early tendencies the family might send them off to Aunt Rose's fate.
Hmm... Definitely a bad mark on JFK's image...

LBJ: Talk about unpredictable. My guess is he bans them from the White House, adds the flak to the pile, but reconciles as soon as he's out of office. Very likely to go to work for gay rights early, probably advancing the cause.
Yeah... I agree with you there.

Nixon: Could cost him the election no matter how he plays it. If he's in office and it happens, he will count on the goodwill of the press to bury the story and they will probably comply. This is actually true of anyone up through Nixon; the press is going to be very accommodating. But post-Nixon the jadedness sets in and nobody gets a pass.
Yep. Nixon could get away with it if he's in office.

Ford: Probably tries for the "no comment" approach but gay rights gets a high-profile ally anyway. People are already uncertain after Watergate and just want to get through the next two years without anything falling off the country. So probably fairly low-impact, all things considered. Ford doesn't win the nomination in '76.
And Reagan goes down to Carter, I think...

Carter: I would hope for better from Carter, but my gut tells me that he's friends with Billy Graham who's friends with some even more unsavory types. I'm guessing they go full-on "gay conversion" on the kid with very unpredictable results. Maybe they can pull off the act for a few years and send all the wrong messages to the world about homosexuality. Maybe it doesn't work and we see a stronger focus on the human rights aspect of homosexuality.
Yes. Carter would be despised by LGBT people, of course...

Reagan: So media slick and probably unwilling to play the dour role of the lordly father, banning his deviant son or daughter. I'm guessing we see the Cheney approach. "I love my daughter privately but don't condone her activities." And in the meantime we might actually get some earlier official support on the right for the position that people are born gay, heck, maybe even some legislative support when it comes to hate crimes.
Hmm... Could be positive.

Bush I: Similar to Reagan with more likelihood of an "evolving" position post-presidency.
Yeah.

Clinton: Stereotyping makes me think he'll do everything cosmetic and nothing concrete to support gay rights. But if Congress sends him DOMA...I just can't see him being that cold-hearted. But if he makes it personal, we could see more Democrats break ranks to overturn the veto. Could be a more vocal proponent of civil rights and non-discrimination but marriage is still going to be an issue for the states. Incidentally Hillary would probably have come on-board a lot sooner. They might even use their media presence to walk a middle line; Hillary clearly pro-gay rights, Bill doing some exploring.
True. Bill would be careful...

Bush II: Compassionate conservatism would encompass a more nuanced Cheney position. If both Bush and Cheney have gay children on the ticket, I think we have a massive issue during his term. I think if the kid is anything like his OTL daughters the paparazzi makes homosexuality a daily presence in the White House briefing room. He probably supports all of the same stuff as Clinton with Laura occasionally out-flanking him on the left with support for marriage. And we could see the president actually go to a gay wedding ITTL while in office. Big split in the anti-gay movement results. If the gay movement doesn't split, he could lose the '04 election, as gay rights were a primary social fear his team used to win the election IOTL.
Hmm... Definitely a better image for Bush. He would be remembered better than OTL.

Obama: Obama's ATL gay kid is unlikely to be of consenting age, but we could see ramped up support for gay rights a little sooner.
He could come out in favor earlier?
My Opinions.
 
Presidential kids are usually lovable - you've got the Roosevelt kids, them lovable ruffians, and then children like Malia and Sasha - admirable in a much different way.


Depending on how the coming out is handled, how the President reacts, and the year, really - we either see a spike or a boost in popularity for the President and definitely a boost in Gay Rights.
 
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