Faux Conservative
by Steve Baldwin
For all his assertions that he is “pro-family” and “believe marriage should be between a man and a woman,” Willard “Mitt” Romney shows remarkably strong support for the anti-family, anti-marriage gay agenda. In fact, as recently as earlier this month, he was bragging about his support of “gay rights.”
Since he now campaigns as a conservative, I find that this reeks of hypocrisy. Both in 2003 and 2004 Romney issued proclamations to commemorate “gay pride” week. The intent of gay pride week was clearly to encourage children to become homosexual, bisexual or transsexual.
You can find documentation of Romney’s record on gay issues here and many more here. Bay Windows, the gay newspaper in Boston, described Gay Pride week this way:
“Approximately 5,000 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth and their straight supporters took to the streets for the annual Gay/Straight Youth Pride March and Rally in Boston May 17. The day kicked off with a noon rally at Copley Square. As the crowd on the green in front of Trinity Church swelled to overflowing and spilled onto surrounding sidewalks, speakers including openly gay elected officials U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, state Sens. Jarrett Barrios and Cheryl Jacques and state Rep. Liz Malia stressed the importance of state funding for GLBT youth programs. They called on young people to actively lobby their legislators to preserve the funding, which has been dramatically reduced in the past year due to the state’s fiscal woes. GCGLY Chair Vin McCarthy read a proclamation from Gov. Mitt Romney declaring May 17 Gay/Straight Youth Pride Day. Henry said she was gratified by Romney’s recognition of the event. “He certainly has been supportive of the volunteer efforts of the commission,” she said. “And he certainly is interested in protecting the safety of all of the kids.”
– “Youth Pride marches on,” Bay Windows, May 22, 2003
Here is Governor Mitt Romney’s 2003 Proclamation supporting Massachusetts Gay/Straight Youth Pride Day.
Governor Mitt Romney 2004 Proclamation supporting Massachusetts Gay/Straight Youth Pride Day.
For more proof, here is the full text of the Romney Administration 2006 “Youth Pride” press release:
“THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE YOUTH PRIDE!” MASSACHUSETTS YOUTH PRIDE COMMITTEE TO TRANSFORM BOSTON COMMON INTO “RAINBOW CITY” FOR 12TH ANNUAL YOUTH PRIDE CELEBRATION. Boston, March 27, 2006 — In celebration of their lives and diversity, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer (GLBTQ) youth and their supporters will gather by the thousands to kick off Massachusetts’ 12th annual Youth Pride on Saturday.
Here are the photos and coverage of 2006 “Gay/Straight Youth Pride Day.”
The Romney campaign has recently claimed that his campaign did not pass out pink flyers at a gay pride parade, but that’s simply not true. The flyer complete with Romney campaign authorization at the bottom is the main image on our story and say, in full:
“Mitt and Kerry Wish You a Great Pride Weekend! All citizens deserve equal rights, regardless of their sexual preference. Paid for by the Romney for Governor Committee and the Kerry Murphy Healy Committee.”
And if you’re interested in more evidence that Romney lied, how about this:
A former intern for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says that contradictory to the camp’s statements, the former Massachusetts governor did authorize flyers in 2002 that championed LGBT rights. The conflict is only the most recent in decades of both endorsement and criticism of legalized same-sex marriage, DADT, and other equal rights efforts. The Manhattan Institute’s Josh Barro told BuzzFeed that “a full-time staffer” organized the dissemination of pink flyers stating Romney’s support for LGBT equal rights. On Jan. 8, one of Romney’s campaign spokesmen told The Huffington Post that the fliers were not campaign literature, despite the fact that “Paid for by the Romney for Governor Committee” was printed on the bottom of each flyer. “I don’t know where those pink flyers came from. I was the communications director on the 2002 campaign. I don’t know who distributed them. …I never saw them and I was the communications director,” Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney’s chief spokesman, told The Huffington Post. Barro told BuzzFeed that, “On pride weekend, the campaign sent a contingent of about a half-dozen of us to the post-parade festival on Boston Common to hand out those flyers.”
– “Romney’s most recent denial of LGBT support latest in decades-long flip-flop,” Bay Windows, Jan 11, 2012.
And just in case you’re not convinced yet, just this past Saturday, Romney had the dubious pleasure of winning overwhelmingly the straw vote at the Log Cabin Republican’s Florida caucus.
Plain and simple, the facts are undeniable: the only “conservative” title Romney can claim is “Faux Conservative.”
Steve Baldwin is the former chair of the Right to Life caucus in the California state legislature and executive director of the Council for National Policy. He is featured in Gregg Jackson and Steve Deace’s new book: We Won’t Get Fooled Again: Where the Christian Right Went Wrong and How to Make America Right Again.
Since he now campaigns as a conservative, I find that this reeks of hypocrisy. Both in 2003 and 2004 Romney issued proclamations to commemorate “gay pride” week. The intent of gay pride week was clearly to encourage children to become homosexual, bisexual or transsexual.
You can find documentation of Romney’s record on gay issues here and many more here. Bay Windows, the gay newspaper in Boston, described Gay Pride week this way:
“Approximately 5,000 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth and their straight supporters took to the streets for the annual Gay/Straight Youth Pride March and Rally in Boston May 17. The day kicked off with a noon rally at Copley Square. As the crowd on the green in front of Trinity Church swelled to overflowing and spilled onto surrounding sidewalks, speakers including openly gay elected officials U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, state Sens. Jarrett Barrios and Cheryl Jacques and state Rep. Liz Malia stressed the importance of state funding for GLBT youth programs. They called on young people to actively lobby their legislators to preserve the funding, which has been dramatically reduced in the past year due to the state’s fiscal woes. GCGLY Chair Vin McCarthy read a proclamation from Gov. Mitt Romney declaring May 17 Gay/Straight Youth Pride Day. Henry said she was gratified by Romney’s recognition of the event. “He certainly has been supportive of the volunteer efforts of the commission,” she said. “And he certainly is interested in protecting the safety of all of the kids.”
– “Youth Pride marches on,” Bay Windows, May 22, 2003
Here is Governor Mitt Romney’s 2003 Proclamation supporting Massachusetts Gay/Straight Youth Pride Day.
Governor Mitt Romney 2004 Proclamation supporting Massachusetts Gay/Straight Youth Pride Day.
For more proof, here is the full text of the Romney Administration 2006 “Youth Pride” press release:
“THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE YOUTH PRIDE!” MASSACHUSETTS YOUTH PRIDE COMMITTEE TO TRANSFORM BOSTON COMMON INTO “RAINBOW CITY” FOR 12TH ANNUAL YOUTH PRIDE CELEBRATION. Boston, March 27, 2006 — In celebration of their lives and diversity, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer (GLBTQ) youth and their supporters will gather by the thousands to kick off Massachusetts’ 12th annual Youth Pride on Saturday.
Here are the photos and coverage of 2006 “Gay/Straight Youth Pride Day.”
The Romney campaign has recently claimed that his campaign did not pass out pink flyers at a gay pride parade, but that’s simply not true. The flyer complete with Romney campaign authorization at the bottom is the main image on our story and say, in full:
“Mitt and Kerry Wish You a Great Pride Weekend! All citizens deserve equal rights, regardless of their sexual preference. Paid for by the Romney for Governor Committee and the Kerry Murphy Healy Committee.”
And if you’re interested in more evidence that Romney lied, how about this:
A former intern for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says that contradictory to the camp’s statements, the former Massachusetts governor did authorize flyers in 2002 that championed LGBT rights. The conflict is only the most recent in decades of both endorsement and criticism of legalized same-sex marriage, DADT, and other equal rights efforts. The Manhattan Institute’s Josh Barro told BuzzFeed that “a full-time staffer” organized the dissemination of pink flyers stating Romney’s support for LGBT equal rights. On Jan. 8, one of Romney’s campaign spokesmen told The Huffington Post that the fliers were not campaign literature, despite the fact that “Paid for by the Romney for Governor Committee” was printed on the bottom of each flyer. “I don’t know where those pink flyers came from. I was the communications director on the 2002 campaign. I don’t know who distributed them. …I never saw them and I was the communications director,” Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney’s chief spokesman, told The Huffington Post. Barro told BuzzFeed that, “On pride weekend, the campaign sent a contingent of about a half-dozen of us to the post-parade festival on Boston Common to hand out those flyers.”
– “Romney’s most recent denial of LGBT support latest in decades-long flip-flop,” Bay Windows, Jan 11, 2012.
And just in case you’re not convinced yet, just this past Saturday, Romney had the dubious pleasure of winning overwhelmingly the straw vote at the Log Cabin Republican’s Florida caucus.
Plain and simple, the facts are undeniable: the only “conservative” title Romney can claim is “Faux Conservative.”
Steve Baldwin is the former chair of the Right to Life caucus in the California state legislature and executive director of the Council for National Policy. He is featured in Gregg Jackson and Steve Deace’s new book: We Won’t Get Fooled Again: Where the Christian Right Went Wrong and How to Make America Right Again.
Comments at SteveDeace.com http://stevedeace.com/news/national-politics/faux-conservative/
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