January 2, 2007
Deal W. Hudson

[Important Reminder from Dean Hudson: Visit my new "Theocon Blog" and leave your comments. My blog partners and I would enjoy hearing from you personally. Go to http://dealwhudson.typepad.com/deal_w_hudson/.]

In the last Window (December 23, 2006), I shared some background with you on Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to help inform Catholics about this likely presidential candidate's record on abortion and emergency contraception.

In Part 2, I will briefly recap those key questions and share more information regarding Romney's positions and record on gay rights, gay adoption, and judicial appointments.

In a few days, I will publish the last part of Questions for Gov. Romney focusing on his response to the gay marriage ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Court.

Once again, we will present facts, perspectives, and questions that have been largely ignored or overlooked by the mainstream media.

Tomorrow Governor Mitt Romney is expected to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President.

The following should be carefully considered when deciding whom to support. It is an eye-opener!

GAY RIGHTS

By now, many readers know that for the past two and a half years Gov. Romney has become a crusader against same-sex marriage and activist judges. But his gay-friendly positions from his 1994 campaign against Kennedy have recently come back to haunt him, and reams of documentation by Massachusetts pro-family activists and the Boston-area gay newspaper, Bay Windows, show how Romney's pro-gay actions as governor have not matched his conservative rhetoric.

Romney's previous comments reported by the New York Times, Boston Globe, and other papers are troubling on their own. In 1994, Romney won the endorsement of the gay-advocating Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts, saying he would be a stronger advocate for gays than US Senator Edward M. Kennedy. "We must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern. My opponent cannot do this. I can and will."

During his 2002 run for governor, Romney supported full domestic partnership benefits for gay and lesbian couples which had been opposed by Democratic legislative leadership, and his campaign distributed pink flyers during Gay Pride promoting equal rights for all citizens regardless of their sexual preference.

During that same 2002 run, Romney also denounced as "too extreme" an effort by pro-family groups to enact a state Marriage Protection Amendment banning gay marriage, civil unions and same-sex domestic-partnership benefits which could have preempted the November 2003 same-sex marriage court decision.

Romney's inactions as governor that allowed the gay agenda to advance among young people are even more troubling. For example, the Governor's Commission for Gay and Lesbian Youth promotes gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender (GLBT) education in schools via speaking presentations, films, books, dances (such as transgender proms), handouts, and establishment of GLBT clubs.

Although Romney had legal control over the entity, he never tried to limit its use of funding, impact the membership, or dissolve the Commission until after the Legislature created a redundant commission several months before the end of his 4-year term in office. In fact, Romney's fiscal 2006 budget included $250,000 for the Commission, twice what he proposed spending in 2005. Romney signed annual proclamations recognizing "Youth Gay Pride Day.

Romney's Department of Public Health supported publication of "The Little Black Book…Queer in the 21st Century," a pamphlet which includes graphic instructions about safely performing gay sex acts, which even liberal Boston Herald columnists described as "filled with crude vulgarities" and a "vile little pamphlet...dirt, dummied-down poison to the mind."

Romney's Department of Education provides extensive instructions to schools on forming Gay/Straight Student Alliances, advocates school children should attend gay pride parades, proposes agendas for a gay/lesbian "Day of Awareness" including a panel of transgender individuals talking about transvestite/transsexual issues, and suggests top ten Gay Straight Alliance meeting topics such as "What would the world be like if 10% of people were straight and 90% were gay?" and "What would it be like if parents wanted their children to grow up gay?"

If Gov. Romney did not care enough about protecting family values and children's education to eliminate or curtail these programs when he had direct management authority over the sponsoring agencies in Massachusetts, why should Catholics believe he will do any better in Washington?