Romney And Homosexuality: An Update

As we said in yesterday's Hotline, Gov. Mitt Romney's 1994 support for the full measure of gay rights -- sans gay marriage -- would make the doubting Dobsons of the world more nervous.

Today's New York Times finds a "shocked' (Shocked!) Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and an equally as anxious Paul Weyrich.

Neither of those two gentleman will play a dispositive role in determining the next Republican presidential nominee, although Romney has cozied up to Mr. Perkins: Romney recieved a standing ovation at a Family Research Council forum in Washington recently and was a featured speaker at Justice Sunday 4, which focused almost entirely on same-sex marriage.

Getting James Dobson on the telephone, or anyone from the Iowa Christian Alliance, or Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention -- that would be most interesting.

If you'd like to read the original Bay Windows story from 1994, click here.

Note: Romney does not endorse gay marriage here. He is a strong proponent of federalism, it seems, and opposes federal efforts to intervene in decisions he feels are best made by communities. But the differences in tone, at least, are fairly striking.

Here are some excerpts:

“For a number of years, I was chief executive at Bain and Co. It’s an environment that fosters openness and fights discrimination. I believe it is a good place for gay and lesbian individuals to work. I know of nothing in our workplace that doesn’t encourage promotion and compensation based on performance, without regard to personal differences, such as sexual orientation. I believe that my record, my life, is a clear indication of my support and insistence on anti-discrimination and on efforts to assure equal rights for all.”

I am aware of the legislation that Barney Frank proposed [the Employment Non-Discrimination Act] and do support that and would vote in favor of that.

“I think when people have a commitment to one another, either a heterosexual or homosexuals relationship, that they should have the benefit of visitation rights and leave privileges and things of that nature. The question for me in regards to the health care benefits would be to determine what the cost is, what the implications are, where one would draw the boundaries , how one would define commitment. And those are areas I haven’t studied so I won’t take a position on that. I do support generally the proposition that people in homosexual relationships should not be discriminated against in terms of employment benefits.”