With the GOP convention in full swing, cementing Mitt Romney's position as the Republican Presidential nominee, the time is ripe for a deeper dive at the actual platforms being promoted that may rule our next four years. Shudder.
1.Romney is adamantly against same-sex marriage - Romney has publicly stated he supports a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. On his website, under "Values" he states, "As president, Mitt will not only appoint an Attorney General who will defend the Defense of Marriage Act - a bipartisan law passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton - but he will also champion a Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman."
2.Romney's a flip flopper on LGBT issues - Romney publicly supported LGBT rights in his 1994 campaigning for Senator against Ted Kennedy but switched his position in 2002 and has since been vocally opposed to many LGBT rights issues. In a letter he wrote in 1994, he said, "...as we seek to establish full equality for America's gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent." Over the past decade, though, he's moved to the opposite side of the fence and vehemently opposes LGBT rights on many fronts in this current campaign.
3.Romney reportedly bullied gay classmates in high school - As a teenager, Romney was a known bully. He once pinned down an effeminate male classmate and forced a pair of scissors on him to forcibly remove hair that draped over his eye. "He can't look like that. That's wrong. Just look at him!" Romney reportedly said. In another incident, Romney yelled out, "Atta Girl!" in class when a student who was thought to be gay spoke. When confronted by the media, Romney said, "I participated in a lot of high jinks and pranks during high school, and some might have gone too far, and for that I apologize." The student he had taunted died from cancer in 2004.
4. Mitt has opposed LGBT inclusion on hate crime legislation - Mitt Romney vetoed a bill funding hate crimes prevention during his tenure as governor in Massachusetts in 2003. In fact, he cut all funds to hate crime prevention after taking gubernatorial office, which forced an anti-bullying focused Take Force to let its entire staff go. The group remains disbanded.
5.Romney doesn't support same-sex parent adoption - The man with a large family - five children and 18 grandchildren - believes in denying children with no parents the chance to have a duel-guardian loving home if the two happen to be of the same sex. After accidentally mildly supporting same-sex parent adoption rights back in May, he retracted his statement and said, "I simply acknowledge the fact that gay adoption is legal in all states but one. " Back in 2006, Romney filed a bill in Massachusetts which allowed Catholic Charities' adoption policies to overtly exclude same-sex couples.
There are plenty of other scary platforms on which Romney stands - with regard to LGBT rights and beyond - and we face a potentially grim near future if he's elected. Share this news widely and protect our progress and our freedoms!