Maya Keyes
Encyclopedia
Maya Jeane Marcel-Keyes (born May 23, 1985) is an American
social and political activist
and daughter of Alan Keyes
, a candidate for the 2008 Republican
presidential nomination. Marcel-Keyes has been involved with the anarchist
and gay rights movements, despite her staunch conservative upbringing. She also identifies herself as adamantly pro-life
, describing this stance as integral to her pacifist beliefs.
and raised in suburban Maryland
by Alan Keyes
, and wife Jocelyn Marcel-Keyes who is a native of India
. Marcel-Keyes is the second of three children. She was raised in the Roman Catholic Church
.
. She eventually came out
as a lesbian
. The death of a close friend, a young man named Shymmer, presaged Marcel-Keyes' entry into the public eye. Shymmer had been kicked out of his house at age 16 after revealing his sexual orientation
to his parents, thereby forcing him to survive on the streets. After over three years living without a home, and facing many of the problems LGBT
youth face while homeless — rape
, beatings, prostitution
— Shymmer died of starvation
brought about by a severe case of anorexia nervosa
after a Washington, D.C.
hospital refused to provide him an IV drip.
Marcel-Keyes spoke about Shymmer at an Equality Maryland
rally on Valentine's Day
, 2005.
, Marcel-Keyes was instrumental in convincing her father, despite objections from his security detail, to throw himself into a mosh pit organized by activist and filmmaker Michael Moore
during an Iowa
caucus rally. Fellow Republican candidate Gary Bauer
charged that the event was a cheap political stunt. In response, Mr. Keyes said that the mosh pit exemplified "the kind of trust in people that is the heart and soul of the Keyes campaign."
Republican Party as its candidate for the U.S. Senate
seat vacated by retiring Senator Peter Fitzgerald. The previous nominee, businessman and educator Jack Ryan
, removed himself from the race after damaging information from his divorce records were made public. Marcel-Keyes and her father moved to Calumet City
and later to Chicago for the race.
Marcel-Keyes' sexual orientation was not widely known at the time of her father's entry into the Senate election, but questions arose when Keyes answered a reporter's question concerning the homosexuality
of Vice President
Dick Cheney
's daughter at the 2004 Republican National Convention
. Keyes stated that all homosexuals were guilty of "selfish hedonism
," Mary Cheney
included.
The following September, a weblog
written by Gerald Farinas, an acquaintance of Marcel-Keyes, was discovered containing a link to what was believed to be, based on clues found on both sites, Marcel-Keyes' online journal. In it, the author described herself as "queer
". Freelance bloggers concluded it was indeed Marcel-Keyes' site and pressured her to come out
of the closet
. Mainstream media outlets differed on how and whether to report the information discovered by the weblog community. Few moved on the issue and refrained from reporting the events surrounding Marcel-Keyes (until after she spoke to the media herself following the election), but all faced a barrage of requests for information. Marcel-Keyes had been out to her parents since they found a copy of the Washington Blade in her room and confronted her with it at the end of high school
.
After the 2004 campaign, Marcel-Keyes became a consultant for her father's Illinois office. However, on January 20, 2005, she participated in a march protesting the second inauguration
of President George W. Bush
. In 2005 Keyes relieved her from her duties and requested that she move out of an apartment funded by Keyes' political organizations in Chicago. Marcel-Keyes wrote in her online journal that her parents had given her two weeks to move out of the apartment, and had effectively left her "jobless and ... homeless." In public she said she could understand this because "It doesn't make much sense for him to be [financially] supporting someone who is working against what he believes in." When asked if she was homeless, she said "Technically speaking, I don't have anywhere to go. I have lots of friends and I could probably go crash with them. I'm going back to Chicago and I'm not really sure what I'm going to do when I get there. I have no place to live there, but there have been people offering to help me find housing, offering to let me stay with them for a little while until I figure things out. I don't have an official place to live but I really doubt that I will be spending much time wandering the sidewalks." In the same interview she also criticized the media's reporting of the event. She also discussed this series of events in an interview with The Advocate
.
circles and the pro-life
movement. She believes in the philosophy of "peace for all who live," opposing all forms of violence
— including the death penalty, abortion
, all forms of war, and the killing of animals for consumption (she is a vegan
). She states she is an anarchist
, and reportedly believes things such as access to health care
, education
, housing, food and jobs should be considered human rights
.
To these ends, Marcel-Keyes is involved with a number of activist organizations. She has volunteered with Food Not Bombs
, runs as a street medic
at protests and is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Youth Advocacy Coalition
, which speaks on behalf of LGBT families and youth all over the country. She also spent a year in the south of India
teaching English
and computer skills to tribal people with a group known as ACCORD, which aims to empower tribal people of India
who have historically been oppressed and/or ignored by higher castes.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
social and political activist
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
and daughter of Alan Keyes
Alan Keyes
Alan Lee Keyes is an American conservative political activist, author, former diplomat, and perennial candidate for public office. A doctoral graduate of Harvard University, Keyes began his diplomatic career in the U.S...
, a candidate for the 2008 Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
presidential nomination. Marcel-Keyes has been involved with the anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
and gay rights movements, despite her staunch conservative upbringing. She also identifies herself as adamantly pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
, describing this stance as integral to her pacifist beliefs.
Family and personal life
Marcel-Keyes was born in New JerseyNew Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and raised in suburban Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
by Alan Keyes
Alan Keyes
Alan Lee Keyes is an American conservative political activist, author, former diplomat, and perennial candidate for public office. A doctoral graduate of Harvard University, Keyes began his diplomatic career in the U.S...
, and wife Jocelyn Marcel-Keyes who is a native of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Marcel-Keyes is the second of three children. She was raised in the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
.
Influences
Maya Marcel-Keyes often sought friends that were outside the family's conservative atmosphere, befriending those that began to introduce her to new ideas. During her teenage years, Marcel-Keyes began to evaluate her sexual orientationSexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
. She eventually came out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
as a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
. The death of a close friend, a young man named Shymmer, presaged Marcel-Keyes' entry into the public eye. Shymmer had been kicked out of his house at age 16 after revealing his sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
to his parents, thereby forcing him to survive on the streets. After over three years living without a home, and facing many of the problems LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
youth face while homeless — rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, beatings, prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
— Shymmer died of starvation
Starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
brought about by a severe case of anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
after a Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
hospital refused to provide him an IV drip.
Marcel-Keyes spoke about Shymmer at an Equality Maryland
Equality Maryland
Equality Maryland is a non-profit organization formerly headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, now based in Baltimore. Its activities focus on advocacy and education with regard to a number of LGBT social and political movements...
rally on Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
, 2005.
2000 U.S. presidential election
During the 2000 U.S Presidential Election SeasonRepublican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2000
The 2000 Republican presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2000 U.S. presidential election. Governor of Texas George W...
, Marcel-Keyes was instrumental in convincing her father, despite objections from his security detail, to throw himself into a mosh pit organized by activist and filmmaker Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
during an Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
caucus rally. Fellow Republican candidate Gary Bauer
Gary Bauer
Gary Lee Bauer is an American politician notable for his ties to several evangelical Christian groups and campaigns.-Biography:...
charged that the event was a cheap political stunt. In response, Mr. Keyes said that the mosh pit exemplified "the kind of trust in people that is the heart and soul of the Keyes campaign."
2004 U.S. presidential election
Marcel-Keyes gained public notoriety after her father was nominated by the IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
Republican Party as its candidate for the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
seat vacated by retiring Senator Peter Fitzgerald. The previous nominee, businessman and educator Jack Ryan
Jack Ryan (Senate candidate)
Jack Ryan is a Republican from the state of Illinois who was forced to withdraw from the 2004 United States Senate race due to an alleged sex scandal involving his relationship with his ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan...
, removed himself from the race after damaging information from his divorce records were made public. Marcel-Keyes and her father moved to Calumet City
Calumet City, Illinois
Calumet City is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 39,072 at the 2000 census. The ZIP code is 60409.Calumet City was founded in 1892 when the villages of Schrumville and Sobieski Park merged under the name of West Hammond, since it lies on the west side of the...
and later to Chicago for the race.
Marcel-Keyes' sexual orientation was not widely known at the time of her father's entry into the Senate election, but questions arose when Keyes answered a reporter's question concerning the homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
of Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
's daughter at the 2004 Republican National Convention
2004 Republican National Convention
The 2004 Republican National Convention, the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States, took place from August 30 to September 2, 2004 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York...
. Keyes stated that all homosexuals were guilty of "selfish hedonism
Hedonism
Hedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure .-Etymology:The name derives from the Greek word for "delight" ....
," Mary Cheney
Mary Cheney
Mary Claire Cheney is the second daughter of Dick Cheney, the former Vice President of the United States, and his wife, Lynne Cheney. She is openly lesbian, has voiced support for same-sex marriage, and has been credited with encouraging her father to support same-sex marriage as well...
included.
The following September, a weblog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
written by Gerald Farinas, an acquaintance of Marcel-Keyes, was discovered containing a link to what was believed to be, based on clues found on both sites, Marcel-Keyes' online journal. In it, the author described herself as "queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
". Freelance bloggers concluded it was indeed Marcel-Keyes' site and pressured her to come out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
of the closet
The Closet
The Closet may refer to:* The Closet , Chinese film* The Closet , French film* The closet, referring to undisclosed homosexuality- See also :* Closet* Closet * In the closet...
. Mainstream media outlets differed on how and whether to report the information discovered by the weblog community. Few moved on the issue and refrained from reporting the events surrounding Marcel-Keyes (until after she spoke to the media herself following the election), but all faced a barrage of requests for information. Marcel-Keyes had been out to her parents since they found a copy of the Washington Blade in her room and confronted her with it at the end of high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
.
After the 2004 campaign, Marcel-Keyes became a consultant for her father's Illinois office. However, on January 20, 2005, she participated in a march protesting the second inauguration
Inauguration
An inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's term of office. An example is the ceremony in which the President of the United States officially takes the oath of office....
of President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
. In 2005 Keyes relieved her from her duties and requested that she move out of an apartment funded by Keyes' political organizations in Chicago. Marcel-Keyes wrote in her online journal that her parents had given her two weeks to move out of the apartment, and had effectively left her "jobless and ... homeless." In public she said she could understand this because "It doesn't make much sense for him to be [financially] supporting someone who is working against what he believes in." When asked if she was homeless, she said "Technically speaking, I don't have anywhere to go. I have lots of friends and I could probably go crash with them. I'm going back to Chicago and I'm not really sure what I'm going to do when I get there. I have no place to live there, but there have been people offering to help me find housing, offering to let me stay with them for a little while until I figure things out. I don't have an official place to live but I really doubt that I will be spending much time wandering the sidewalks." In the same interview she also criticized the media's reporting of the event. She also discussed this series of events in an interview with The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
.
Activism and beliefs
From an early age, Marcel-Keyes involved herself in her father's political work, in both pro-school choiceSchool choice
School choice is a term used to describe a wide array of programs aimed at giving families the opportunity to choose the school their children will attend. As a matter of form, school choice does not give preference to one form of schooling or another, rather manifests itself whenever a student...
circles and the pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
movement. She believes in the philosophy of "peace for all who live," opposing all forms of violence
Consistent Life Ethic
The consistent life ethic, or the consistent ethic of life, was a term coined in 1983 by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin to express an ethical, religious, and political ideology based on the premise that all human life was sacred and should be protected by law. The ideology opposes legal abortion,...
— including the death penalty, abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, all forms of war, and the killing of animals for consumption (she is a vegan
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
). She states she is an anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
, and reportedly believes things such as access to health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, housing, food and jobs should be considered human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
.
To these ends, Marcel-Keyes is involved with a number of activist organizations. She has volunteered with Food Not Bombs
Food Not Bombs
Food Not Bombs is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, serving free vegan and vegetarian food to others. Food Not Bombs' ideology is that myriad corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance...
, runs as a street medic
Street medic
Street medics, or action medics, are volunteers with varying degrees of medical training who attend protests and demonstrations to provide medical care such as first aid. Unlike regular emergency medical technicians, who serve with more established institutions, street medics usually operate in a...
at protests and is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Youth Advocacy Coalition
National Youth Advocacy Coalition
The National Youth Advocacy Coalition, or NYAC, which ceased to operate on May 12, 2011 was a organization which sought to fight discrimination against and promote the leadership and wellness for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth.NYAC was founded in 1993. At its...
, which speaks on behalf of LGBT families and youth all over the country. She also spent a year in the south of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
teaching English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and computer skills to tribal people with a group known as ACCORD, which aims to empower tribal people of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
who have historically been oppressed and/or ignored by higher castes.
Honors and awards
- Keyes was awarded the Wanda AlstonWanda AlstonWanda Alston was a United States feminist activist and government official. She was born in Newport News, Virginia in the United States....
Scholarship through The Point FoundationPoint Foundation (LGBT)The Point Foundation is the first and largest national foundation to support academic achievement in higher education among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students by providing financial support, mentoring and hope to meritorious students who are marginalized due to sexual orientation,...
, a charityCharitable organizationA charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
based in San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland... - In June 2005, Keyes became a member of the board of directors of the National Youth Advocacy CoalitionNational Youth Advocacy CoalitionThe National Youth Advocacy Coalition, or NYAC, which ceased to operate on May 12, 2011 was a organization which sought to fight discrimination against and promote the leadership and wellness for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth.NYAC was founded in 1993. At its...
. This organization works on behalf of LGBT youth and families throughout the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. - On December 7, 2005, Keyes received the Emery Award, presented by the Hetrick-Martin InstituteHetrick-Martin InstituteThe Hetrick-Martin Institute is a New York City based non-profit organization devoted to serving the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning youth. The institute was founded in 1979 as the "Institute for the Protection of Lesbian and Gay Youth" by Dr. Emery Hetrick, a...
for outstanding work on behalf of homeless LGBT youth.