Forum Post: Mitt Romney goes/WENT pro-gay/NO-GUTS with staff appointment -- Grenell forced to resign and 1994 letter DENIED
Posted 12 years ago on April 27, 2012, 8:14 a.m. EST by OccNoVi
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Well, now that the former governor of Massachusetts has the Republican presidential nomination all sewn up, he can do what he wants. People who were afraid that Romney is a bigot can unclench their fists. People who also worried that Romney would repeat his pro-gay-rights history from Massachusetts can unclench their fists. Romney does not hate gays and he will also not stand up for his closest openly gay advisor.
People who worry that Romney is a emotionally flat, two-dimensional, not very bright coward -- clinch for all you are worth!
Romney is/IS NOT standing by his hiring of Richard Grenell as his national security adviser and public spokesman. To be clear, Grenell is not the only openly gay staffer -- he's just the only one to catch bad words from the conservative bible-thumpers.
American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer led the attack. Family Research Council president Tony Perkins and Gary Bauer, at Campaign for Working Families, joined in. Typically:
-- "Most conservatives have been anxious to see how the Romney campaign would react now that the strongest social conservative, Sen. Rick Santorum, is out of the race. Would the Governor try to fill the void left on values issues or would he stick to his more moderate approach?"
With a clear answer to the question:
-- "Grenell, who has been very open about his homosexual lifestyle, publicly condemned the Bush administration (shortly after leaving it) for opposing a U.N. resolution urging the full acceptance of homosexuality. While Bush (like nearly two thirds of the U.N. member states) refused to endorse the measure endorsing homosexuality, President Obama signed it shortly after taking office. Since then, his State Department, under the direction of Hillary Clinton, has tossed aside the cultural and religious beliefs of other countries to promote homosexuality as a basic human right, while downgrading the importance of religious liberty."
Richard Grenell supported the U.N. Human Rights Council passage of a gay rights resolution in 2011. He had supported similar steps during the Bush administration. None of that goes well with politically active Fundamentalists.
Now Grenell is/WAS the top guy, day to day, for foreign policy and the Romney campaign. And Romney is/WAS standing up to the fundies, which a decade ago would have been AND REMAINS IN THE GOP unthinkable.
Them's the facts, folks. Romney made no statement of support whatsoever for Richard Grenell.
Based on what he does, Mitt Romney is pro-gay. The stump speeches veer toward "homosexual lifestyle" pandering. Mitt can get in a hundred appeals to "traditional values" over the course of a day. But when you look at what he does, Mitt is pro-gay EXCEPT WHEN HE WIMPS OUT TO THE FUNDIES.
He has to like Grenell personally to want to talk to him every day. To rely on him for foreign policy advice and for connections to the U.N.
The Movement Fundies ??? Mitt doesn't talk to them except when he has to WHICH IS TOO DAMN OFTEN FOR MY TASTE.
Romney spent the last two days seeming to fight for Chen, the blind Chinese lawyer. He shifted coverage away from his refusal to fight for Richard Grenell.
Grenell had been appointed as Romney's national security and foreign policy spokesperson for the campaign. Grenell was a longtime spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations 2002-2008 with President Bush. He also is openly gay and a gay rights activist.
Ruth Marcus, “Given the predictable, disgusting backlash to Grenell’s hiring, how could the campaign have no plan to deal with it other than shove Grenell into... the closet?”
Romney's silence was not all that difficult to predict. Going up against the Fundies ??? Not going to happen.
Grenell attributes departure to "hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues."
One can imagine that round of screaming back and forth. Interesting language as well?
2002 Bay Windows Questionnaire.
BW: Do you support the Protection of Marriage Amendment? Mitt Romney: No, because it would outlaw domestic partner benefits for same-sex couples.
BW: If an initiative petition passed (on the ballot) that prohibited gays and lesbians from enjoying certain rights (like a Protection of Marriage Act or a repeal of the gay and lesbian civil rights law), would you support overturning that decision in the following legislative session? Or would you let the voters’ decision stand even if it denied gays and lesbians their rights? Mitt Romney: I would do everything in my power as Governor to educate the public on the need to fight discrimination of any kind.
Richard Grenell has resigned under pressure.
National security advisor. Until today.
Obviously Mitt Romney set this up. Then he could not take the heat.
Support by Mitt Romney for a lesbian boy scout troup leader, Jennifer Tyrrell, in Ohio was offered with no expectation of political return.
Massachusetts Senate candidate Romney is asked, as a member of Boy Scouts of America's board at the time, if he agrees with the Boy Scout's exclusionary policy? He responds his support for the Boy Scouts' right to manage their membership as they wish, but he himself has personal reservations. He says:
-- "I feel that all people should be allowed to participate in the Boy Scouts, regardless of their sexual orientation.”
Jennifer Tyrrell, ousted from leading her son's cub scouts pack for being a lesbian says she appreciates 1994 Mitt's support:
-- “I’m very happy to hear that Mitt Romney expressed support in 1994 for the participation of my family, and families like mine, in the Boy Scouts of America. I hope he still feels that gay and lesbian people should be allowed in the Boy Scouts in 2012,” said Tyrrell, who resides in Ohio, one of the critical electoral battlegrounds in the November election. “I think President Obama should also let the public know what he thinks about a cultural institution like the Boy Scouts banning gay Americans.”
It's on youtube:
-- www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uEOJNw4lmlI
Again, talk is cheap. Action is better.
There are charges of flip-floppery. Close to effery.
-- "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country" versus "I am pro-life."
-- "Roe v. Wade has gone too far" versus "I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years we should sustain and support it."
-- "This is a completely airtight kennel mounted on the top of our car" versus "They're not happy that my dog loves fresh air."
-- "I saw my father march with Martin Luther King" versus "I did not see it with my own eyes."
-- "I think the minimum wage ought to keep pace with inflation" versus "There's no question raising the minimum wage excessively causes a loss of jobs."
-- "I will work and fight for stem cell research" versus "In the end, I became persuaded that the stem-cell debate was grounded in a false premise (must oppose it based on theological grounds.)"
-- "“Look, I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush" versus "Ronald Reagan is... my hero" and “The principles that Ronald Reagan espoused are as true today as they were when he spoke them.”
-- "I respect and will protect a woman's right to choose" versus "I never really called myself pro-choice."
-- "It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam" versus "I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there."
-- Sept. 28, 2011: “I have never supported the President’s recovery act, all right, the stimulus, no time, nowhere, no how.” versus Jan. 4, 2009: “I think there is need for economic stimulus...”
-- Romney, August 4, 2004: “I just signed a piece of legislation extending the ban on certain assault weapons” versus Jan. 24, 2008: “I do not support any new legislation of an assault weapon ban nature.”
This leads back to Romney issuing a denial in January, 2012, that he had ever printed and distributed a 2002 "Pride Weekend" pro-gay rights flier from his campaign for governor that was being quoted by his opponents in the South Carolina primary.
I left out the flip-flop about killing Binladen. First Romney was against it, then he was grudging about acknowledging that shooting the SOB was better 'n sniping a racoon that turned over your trash can.
Gotta luv W. Mitt --
To the Members of the Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts:
I am writing to thank the Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts for the advice and support you have given me during my campaign for the US Senate and to seek the Club's formal endorsement of my election. The Log Cabin Club has played a vital role in reinvigorating the Republican Party in Massachusetts and your endorsement is important to me because it will provide further confirmation that my campaign and approach to government is consistent with the values and vision of government we share.
I am pleased to have had an opportunity to talk with you and to meet many of you personally during your September meeting. I learned a great deal from those discussions and many thoughtful questions you posed. As a result of our discussions and other interactions with gay and lesbian voters across the state, I am more convinced than ever before that as we seek to establish full equality for America's gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent.
I am not unaware of my opponents considerable record in the area of civil rights, or the commitment of Massachusetts voters to the principle of equality for all Americans. For some voters it might be enough for me to simply match my opponent's record in this area. But I believe we can and must do better. If we are to achieve the goals we share, we must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern. My opponent cannot do this. I can and will.
We have discussed a number of important issues such as the Federal Employee Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), which I have agreed to co-sponsor, and if possible broaden to include housing and credit, and the bill to create a federal panel to find ways to reduce gay and lesbian youth suicide, which I also support. One issue I want to clarify concerns President Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" military policy. I believe that the Clinton compromise was a step in the right direction. I am also convinced that it is the first of a number of steps that will ultimately lead to gays and lesbians being able to serve openly and honestly in our nation's military. That goal will only be reached when preventing discrimination against gays and lesbians is a mainstream concern, which is a goal we share.
As we begin the final phase of this campaign, I need your support more than ever. By working together, we will achieve the goals we share for Massachusetts and our nation.
Sincerely
That's what he believes, right ?
-- Campaign Manager Matt Rhoades. -- Chief of Staff to the Executive Director Kelli Harrison. -- Deputy Campaign Manager Katie Packer Gage. -- Senior Advisor Beth Myers. -- Senior Advisor Peter G. Flaherty II. -- Senior Advisor Eric Fehrnstrom.
-- Strategists Stewart Stevens and Russ Schriefer.
Not a fundie/bigot in the lot. What's not to like?
Historical document on Pride Weekend has also surfaced that was paid for by "Romney for Governor Committee,” admitted his campaign head for 2002, Eric Fehrnstrom.
Ten years of openly supporting gay rights. Name on the document. That is solid stuff.
It's a Massachusetts thing. Massachusetts' Richard Tisei, also Republican, has been endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund running for congress.
"We're living in a different time now. Gay people are living their lives openly and honestly like never before," said Jimmy LaSalvia, of GOProud.
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