Interesting piece up at
The Boston Globe site detailing Mitt Romney's awful relationship with the Masschutsettes LGBT community.
It was 2004, after the Supreme Judicial Court had cleared the way for same-sex couples to obtain marriage licenses in Massachusetts. Governor Mitt Romney remained a roadblock, endorsing a constitutional amendment that would ban it.
Julie Goodridge and other plaintiffs in the landmark case had written a letter to the governor, asking for a meeting. He ignored it, so they staged a press conference at his office to read the letter to the media. That, finally, got them through his door. Once inside, they were shocked.
For about 20 frustrating minutes, say those in attendance who Boston Spirit interviewed recently, they shared their stories, pled their case, and tried to explain how equal marriage would protect them and their families. Romney sat stone-faced and almost entirely silent.
“Is there anything else?” Romney asked when they finished. With that, the meeting was over.
“It was like talking to a robot. No expression, no feeling,” recalls David Wilson, one of the plaintiffs in the case who met with Romney that day. “People were sharing touching stories, stories where you’d expect recognition in the other person’s face that they at least hear what you’re saying — that there’s empathy. He didn’t even shake his head. He was completely blank.”
Elsewhere in the piece plaintiff Goodridge shares her impression of meeting Romney: “He completely lacks empathy.”
You can get the story directly from Goodridge's mouth, through Courage Campaign's Mitt Gets Worse site.
The site is devoted to tracing Mitt Romney's awful record on LGBT issues.
The Globe piece is lengthy, which means it exhaustively documents Romney's cold and mendacious nature when dealing with the LGBT community.
It wasn't just marriage Romney fought, more on that after the fold.
In addition to fighting marriage equality (and civil unions) tooth and nail, Romney also shamefully dissolved the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. The commission was tasked with addressing issues related to harassment of gay and transgender youth, and preventing teen suicide.
Then in May 2006, [Commission Chair Kathleen] Henry got a phone call from Romney’s chief of staff. A Commission press release touting the Youth Pride parade had been sent out on stationery that included the governor’s name in its sidebar. This placed Romney’s name on the same page as the word “transgender.” He was not happy. He was going to shut down the Commission. Just like that. The end.
Henry’s heart sank. Suicide prevention programs, support for Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA), training administrators to establish “safe school” practices for gay youth — all of that was “flashing before my eyes,” says Henry, who was only hours away from a Commission fundraiser at the Omni Parker House when she received the call. Luckily, political allies leapt to the Commission’s defense, and within hours Romney reversed his order to dismantle the group. In response, Henry worked with the Massachusetts Legislature to hurriedly create the Massachusetts Commission on GLBT Youth, which would exist independent of the governor’s office.
Once that was established, Romney dismantled the original Commission as a redundancy. Then something strange happened. Henry’s phone rang again, it was Romney himself calling, and the tone was very different.
“It was the only time I had received a call from him,” recalls Henry. “He said he wanted to personally express his gratitude, to thank me for my service, and to make sure we understood it was a redundancy now for the Commission to exist.” There was no mention that, only months earlier, he had planned to eliminate that very commission because his name was on its press release.
“It was as if nothing had happened,” says Henry. “When he was done with his lovely speech, I thanked him and said, ‘Governor, this is very gentlemanly of you.’ It kind of took his breath away, the tone in my voice.”
President Obama has prioritized the creation of safer learning environments for our kids and famously taped an
It Gets Better video expressing support and empathy to LGBT youth.
None of which is terribly surprising, and it's not new—this is a republish of a story that ran earlier in an LGBT outlet Boston Spirit magazine. It's interesting that a mainstream outlet has picked up. I think anyone concerned with LGBT rights learned all they needed to know when Romney folded like a cheap lawn chair when right-wing nut job, religious conservative Bryan Fischer of American Family Association demanded he fire a campaign staffer for being gay. And promptly Richard Grenell was gone.
Rarely has the contrast between two candidates been starker than that between President Obama and Gov. Romney on LGBT issues.
And the story revisits Mitt's courting of the gay vote in a 1994 senate race, including his promise to be “better than Ted [Kennedy] for gay rights.”
Whatever, dude. It's clear to all thinking Americans you have no core principles and there is no one you will not pander to in pursuit of a vote.