Battling to win a Senate seat for the staunchly Republican state of Wyoming back in 2013 against critics who labeled her a carpet bagger and nepo baby who had never held any elected office, Liz Cheney knew she couldn’t afford to look weak.

So, when the opposition put out a push poll and supporting TV ad that asked voters if they were aware Cheney ‘aggressively promotes gay marriage,’ she flatly denied it.

‘I am not pro-gay marriage,’ she said with typical Cheney family bluntness in a statement.

This, naturally, might be what someone standing in a Republican primary in such a deeply red state back in 2013 would say – or at least someone who didn’t have a lesbian sister who had married her wife only the previous year.

The astonishing family feud that erupted as a result between siblings Liz and Mary – one which also dragged in their parents – has reportedly all been smoothed over now. It may, however, cast something of a pall over Thursday’s funeral of the family patriarch, former US Vice President Dick Cheney, who died November 3.

Mary came out as gay as a high school junior and with her partner, Heather Poe, had two children – Samuel, to whom Mary gave birth in 2007, and Sarah, whom she had in 2009. They were married by a federal judge in 2012, three years before the Supreme Court ruled it was legal.

Liz’s statement opposing gay marriage in the summer of 2013 caused a major family rift which left her and Mary – siblings who had previously been very close – no longer on speaking terms.

Liz Cheney’s (pictured in 2024) Lstatement opposing gay marriage in the summer of 2013 caused a major family rift which left her and Mary – siblings who had previously been very close – no longer on speaking terms

Mary Cheney, right in 2006, came out as gay as a high school junior and with her partner, Heather Poe, left, had two children

And the ruction went public just months later when Liz doubled down on her position on the issue in an interview with Fox News. Asked about her sister, she said: ‘I do believe in the traditional definition of marriage… I love Mary very much, I love her family very much. This is just an issue on which we disagree.’

However, her decision to discuss Mary and her family while out on the campaign trail did not appear to impress her sibling who, after having her first child, stated that: ‘This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate by people on either side of an issue. It is my child.’

Within hours of the Fox News broadcast, Mary, who at 56 is three years younger than Liz, had gone on social media to condemn her sibling and make clear this wasn’t ‘just’ a disagreement. It was, said insiders, the first communication between the sisters in three months.

‘For the record, I love my sister, but she is dead wrong on the issue of marriage,’ Mary wrote. ‘Liz – this isn’t just an issue on which we disagree, you’re just wrong – and on the wrong side of history.’

Echoing the language of her father, who had made an exception in his otherwise conservative world view to support same-sex marriage, she added: ‘Freedom means freedom for everyone.’

‘That means that all families – regardless of how they look or how they are made – all families are entitled to the same rights, privileges and protections as every other.’

She also took a swipe at her sister’s argument – which some regarded as a compromise on Liz’s part – that the issue of whether to allow same-sex marriage should be settled individually by voters in each state rather than by amending the US constitution.

‘It’s not something to be decided by a show of hands,’ Mary, who like Liz had worked on her father’s political campaign, sneered on Facebook.

Heather Poe, Mary’s wife, also soon weighed in on social media, and she was clearly furious.

‘Liz has been a guest in our home, has spent time and shared holidays with our children, and when Mary and I got married in 2012 – she didn’t hesitate to tell us how happy she was for us,’ she wrote.

‘To have her now say she doesn’t support our right to marry is offensive to say the least.’

Mary not only re-posted Poe’s Facebook post but continued to hurl brickbats at her would-be politician sister.

The astonishing family feud that erupted as a result between siblings Liz (pictured on November 11, far left) and Mary (pictured four from right) – one which also dragged in their parents – has reportedly all been smoothed over now

‘For the record, I love my sister, but she is dead wrong on the issue of marriage,’ Mary (pictured left in 2000 with Liz, right) wrote. ‘Liz – this isn’t just an issue on which we disagree, you’re just wrong – and on the wrong side of history’

Echoing the language of her father (pictured center left with his wife Lynne, left, and daughters, right), who had made an exception in his otherwise conservative world view to support same-sex marriage, Mary said: ‘Freedom means freedom for everyone’

‘This isn’t like a disagreement over grazing fees or what to do about Iran,’ Mary said sarcastically to a commenter on her Facebook page who suggested she should be ‘lovingly tolerant’ of her sister’s position.

She went on: ‘There isn’t a lot of gray here. Either you think all families should be treated equally or you don’t. Liz’s position is to treat my family as second class citizens. That’s not a position I can be “lovingly tolerant” towards.’

It was clear that a chasm had opened up between the sisters, but on which side were her parents standing?

When Mary and Heather married in 2021, Dick and Lynne Cheney celebrated the event in a statement saying: ‘We are delighted that they were able to take advantage of the opportunity to have that relationship recognized. Mary and Heather and their children are very important and much-loved members of our family.’

For years, Dick Cheney had stood apart from others in the Republican Party in supporting same-sex marriage. He said at a 2004 campaign rally, ‘People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship that they want to.’

Mary revealed in a memoir that when she told her parents she was gay, her mother burst into tears, telling her, ‘Your life will be so hard,’ while her father said, ‘You’re my daughter and I love you and I just want you to be happy.’

But those who consequently expected the Cheneys to come out in whole-hearted support of Mary over Liz were disappointed.

Cheney and his wife put out a statement that was supportive of their older daughter. It said: ‘This is an issue we have dealt with privately for many years, and we are pained to see it become public.’

And it continued: ‘Liz has always believed in the traditional definition of marriage. She has also always treated her sister and her sister’s family with love and respect… Liz’s many kindnesses shouldn’t be used to distort her position.’

It was, chided critics, entirely unsurprising that a consummate politician like Dick Cheney would put pragmatism before principle and not want to do anything to damage his daughter’s senate campaign.

Mary subsequently didn’t support that campaign (which Liz pulled out of anyway, citing the needs of her five children), telling Politico: ‘By supporting, I mean not working, not contributing, and not voting for (I’m registered in Virginia not Wyoming).’ But she added: ‘I am not saying I hope she loses to [her opponent Mike] Enzi.’ Mary also announced she’d be boycotting the Cheney family Christmas get-together that year.

Political commentators were particularly shocked as the Cheneys had hitherto been an astonishingly disciplined political unit. Liz and Mary, who grew up in Virginia, had been involved in their father’s political operation since they traveled across Wyoming in 1978 during his first run for Congress and handed out buttons and candy at ages 12 and nine, respectively.

Political commentators were particularly shocked as the Cheneys (pictured in 1978) had hitherto been an astonishingly disciplined political unit

Liz and Mary, who grew up in Virginia, had been involved in their father’s political operation. (Pictured: Dick, Liz and Mary Cheney in 2000)

Liz remained close with her father Dick Cheney, pictured together in 2022

Mary was still working for her father in 2004 on the Bush-Cheney campaign. When George W Bush endorsed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, Mary considered leaving the campaign but decided to stay on.

Liz has remained close to her father, and, after co-authoring his 2011 memoir, they bonded over their shared contempt for President Donald Trump.

As for the sisters’ relationship, it appeared to be still bad two years after the schism. Asked by Politico in 2015 if they had made up, Mary replied: ‘I don’t have to answer that.’

However, by 2021, it appeared that time had healed this particular wound. In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes, Liz – by then a Wyoming congresswoman – admitted she had been wrong about gay marriage.

‘I was wrong. I was wrong. I love my sister very much. I love her family very much,’ she said.

‘It’s a very personal issue – and very personal for my family. I believe that my dad was right… freedom means freedom for everybody.’

Mary swiftly followed in kind, writing on social media: ‘I love my sister very much and am so proud of her.’

She said it had taken a ‘ton of courage’ for her sister to admit she’d been wrong, observing: ‘That is something few politicians would ever do.’

‘And as her sister – I have one more thing that I just have to say,’ she added playfully. ‘I told you so.’