Mary Cheney, the younger of former vice president Dick Cheney’s two daughters, will be the Kennedy Political Union’s first speaker of 2015.
The Jan. 21 event will begin at 8:15 p.m in the School of International Service’s Abramson Family Founder’s Room.
Cheney’s career as a businesswoman and political adviser spans a wide range of occupations including independent strategic consulting, bipartisan government relations and task force management for AOL, according to a KPU press release. She also advised her father and George W. Bush as a campaign aide during the 2000 and 2004 election cycles, according to the press release.
During her speech, Cheney will address the future of the Republican party as it pertains to the LGBTQ community. While working at Coor’s in the mid-1990s, Cheney implemented a plan that ended a 20-year gay and lesbian boycott of Coor’s products. As a married lesbian herself, Cheney’s position on same-sex marriage has been controversial among her socially conservative family members.
Cheney’s appearance at AU comes 10 months after her father’s appearance at the University aroused student protests and attracted national media attention.
KPU director Tyler Bowders said in a press release that he hopes Mary Cheney’s speech will complement and contrast with her father’s 2014 event.
“I am pleased that KPU has the opportunity to host a speaker who is able to showcase the future and diversity of the Republican Party,” Bowders said in the press release.
