NEWSWEEK PERISCOPE: Cheney - 'Sisters' Gets Outed

		NEWSWEEK The cover story in the April 5 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, March 29) focuses on the 9/11 investigation and how it will affect this year's election. Also, a report on Iraq's Ahmed Chalabi and an investigation by Congress into his use of U.S. government funds. Plus, Sharon's Israeli strategy, South Africa's "Born Free" generation, an interview with Danish Director Lars von Trier and a report on anti-depressants and children. (PRNewsFoto)[KC] NEW YORK, NY USA

    NEW YORK, March 28 /PRNewswire/ -- NEWSWEEK PERISCOPE item:
    (Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040328/NYSU005 )

    In 1981, long before her husband was elected vice president, Lynne Cheney
wrote "Sisters," a steamy bodice-ripper set in the 19th-century American West,
featuring vivid tales of whorehouses, attempted rapes, a suspicious murder and
several lesbian love affairs, of which Cheney writes approvingly. The
paperback, published in Canada, has been out of print for nearly two decades.
    But on April 6 the book is scheduled to be released for the first time in
the United States. Many of the novel's most lurid details have already been
unearthed on the Internet and by gay-rights activists, who believe Cheney's
treatment of lesbian relationships in the book is at odds with the Bush
administration's stance against gay marriage. (Cheney's been silent about gay
marriage, although her daughter Mary is openly gay.) For example, in the book
a woman says of her female lover: "How well her words describe our love -- or
the way it would be if we could remove all impediments, leave this place and
join together. Then our union would be complete. Our lives would flow
together, twin streams merging into a single river."
    A Cheney spokesperson says the reissue came as a surprise to the Second
Lady. Cheney told The Washington Post in October 2000: "The reports of my
novel are greatly exaggerated. Nevertheless, I hope they improve sales."
    -Holly Bailey