Maya Marcel-Keyes, the daughter of former Illinois Republican Party senate candidate Alan Keyes, publicly acknowledged Monday that she is a lesbian, according to WLS News.
At a gay-rights rally sponsored by Equality Maryland in Annapolis, Marcel-Keyes came out as a lesbian, calling herself a 'liberal queer,' according to the Associated Press. She did so, she said, in response to escalating tensions with her parents. Marcel-Keyes said that she also wanted to highlight the struggle of gays in the closet, referring to a gay friend who died recently after living for months on the street.
During the 2004 Republican National Convention, Alan Keyes made headlines when he condemned gays and lesbians, even calling homosexuals 'selfish hedonists.' Speaking at an anti-gay marriage rally in Chicago's Marquette Park on Oct 16, Keyes continued his attack on the homosexual community by commenting that incest is 'inevitable' for the children of gay and lesbian parents. However, in August, Alan Keyes remarked that " [ i ] f my own daughter were a homosexual, or a lesbian, I would love my daughter, but I would tell my daughter that she was in sin."
When asked by CNN if she dislikes her parents, Marcel-Keyes said she loves them very much and they love her. However, she said that her parents told her that they cannot 'support [ her ] activities.'
"My daughter is an adult and she is responsible for her own actions. What she chooses to do has nothing to do with my work or political activities," Keyes said in response to his daughter's announcement.
Marcel-Keyes told the Washington Post that her parents kicked her out of the house and will not pay her college tuition. However, a family friend said that Marcel-Keyes has not been kicked out of the family home, but she is no longer welcomed to stay at the downtown Chicago apartment that Keyes and members of his political organization use.