In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Alexandria, a town in Virginia. To a virgin pledged in partnership to another woman, named Heather. And the virgin's name was Mary.

And the angel said to her: "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You shall be with child and give birth to a son. And you shall call his name - Dick!"

And Mary said: "How will this be, since I am a lesbian?" The angel answered: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born to you will be called Little Dick, the grandson of Big Dick, and the son of Unknown Dick. For nothing is impossible with God. Under God, even lesbians can have babies - as long as they are Republicans."

So Mary and Heather went from Alexandria in Virginia up to Washington in the District of Columbia, the home of Big Dick. And while they were there, Mary gave birth to Little Dick. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the White House.

And suddenly a host of angels appeared in the heavens, praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the Highest. And on earth, peace to gays and lesbians of good will - as long as they're Republicans."

Yes, Virginia, it's the Christmas miracle of 2006. Mary Cheney, lesbian daughter of Vice President and Mrs. Dick Cheney, has announced that she is pregnant. That's not the miracle. The miracle is that Mary Cheney plans to raise her child with Heather Poe, her partner of 15 years - yet she's received nothing but high fives from leaders of the Republican party who have led the fight against gay marriage and gay adoption. Even President Bush, gay-basher-in-chief, blew the mother-to-be a Christmas kiss: "I think
Mary is going to be a loving soul to her child," he told People magazine. "And I'm happy for her."

Merry Christmas. I'm happy for Mary Cheney, too. I think it's great that she's having a baby. I've no doubt she'll be a loving mother to her baby, or that little Cheney will have a wonderful, happy and fulfilling life with his two mommies.

What bothers me is the odious double-standard. Why is it OK for Mary and Heather to have a child - and not every other gay or lesbian couple in America? Among Republicans, does your name have to be Cheney, or Bush, in order to be accepted as gay?

I fault Mary Cheney herself, first of all. Even if her father is vice president, how can she stand to belong to a party that hates her? In many states, Republicans have sponsored ballot initiatives to make both gay marriage and gay adoption illegal - most recently in Virginia, where Cheney and her partner live. The Virginia measure, supported by the state Republican Party, not only bans gay marriage, it outlaws any other "union,
partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage."

In other words, as a couple, Mary Cheney and Heather Poe have no rights left in Virginia. To paraphrase what the father of former Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts once said about blacks, any gay or lesbian who votes for the Republican party is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.

Even worse is the hypocrisy of the president and vice president. Dick Cheney proudly supports his daughter. Good for him. Then he simply goes along, without protest, with the policies of the Republican Party that would make his daughter a criminal. Shame on him.

Meanwhile, George W. Bush, sucking up to his religious conservative base, proposes amending the Constitution to prevent couples like Mary Cheney and Heather Poe from getting married. He's a long-time opponent of gay adoption, telling reporters in 1999, as an early candidate for president: "The question is whether I'm for gay adoption. And the answer is, I'm not." But, when Mary Cheney and her partner decide to have a baby, Bush is all smiles.

Christmas or not, Republicans can't continue to have it both ways. It's time to end their immoral war on gays. What's good enough for Mary Cheney is good enough for all gays and lesbians in America. - - -

Bill Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a new book, "How the Republicans Stole Religion." His email address is: bill@billpress.com. His Web site is  www.billpress.com ~ 2006 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.