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Author: Romney's promises to homosexuals still stand

Michael Carl

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'It's not clear that he ever disavowed any of the things he ever said to them'

The Conservative Political Action Conference gushed over Mitt Romney, giving him standing ovations when he said America needs a new president and that the country is experiencing a "moral tragedy of epic proportion."

The former Massachusetts governor also is pulling his own weight in early presidential straw polls, taking 35 percent of the vote in January's New Hampshire contest.

However, all is not well between social conservatives and Romney over  his pursuit of the GOP nomination for 2012. ABC News political writer Michael Falcone says that Romney's campaign is giving "the cold shoulder" to an Iowa conservative group's Republican candidate forum.

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None of that is a surprise to Massachusetts resident, author and activist Amy Contrada, who has written a book in which she compares Romney's rhetoric to his record.

In  "Mitt Romney's Deception: His Stealth Promotion of 'Gay Rights' and 'Gay Marriage' in Massachusetts," Contrada says Romney's record as a Senate candidate in 1994 and as governor show the American people the kind of president Romney will be.

She says the best measuring stick is his long association with the Log Cabin Republicans.

When Romney ran unsuccessfully against Ted Kennedy for Senate in 1994,  garnering about 40 percent of the vote, Contrada recalled, the Log Cabin Republicans asked him to promise he would work for full equality for gays and lesbians.

"He gave them that promise in a now infamous letter," she said, and the Log Cabin Republicans gave him their endorsement.

It's interesting that the Log Cabin Republicans had that 1994 letter from Romney posted on their website until just a few months ago," she said. "It's no longer on their website, but it's on the Mass Resistance website, and I do have it linked in my book."

Attempts to reach Romney for comment were unsuccessful, and Romney's Free and Strong America PAC did not respond to a request for comment.

Contrada gives the details on the depth of commitment Romney made to the GOP's homosexual group.

"Back in 1994 he made a commitment to overturning the ban on homosexuals in the military. He would work for full equality; he would work for partnership benefits. All of these promises, non-discrimination in employment – that's ENDA that was eventually passed. He gave them all of those promises back in 1994," Contrada said.

"In 2002, when he ran for governor, he did the same thing. He actually bragged about his many meetings with the gay Republicans. He would meet them in a gay bar somewhere in Boston. He gave multiple interviews to the homosexual newspaper in Boston," she continued.

"Even in 2007 and 2008, his campaign was saying Mitt Romney has always been for gay rights, and I think that's very clear when you look at in 1994 and 2002, all the promises he made," Contrada added.

Contrada said that in 2002, Romney made a promise to homosexual groups that strikes at the core of who Romney is and how he will govern. She says he promised that he would not defend traditional marriage once the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made its ruling on same-sex marriage.

"Everyone knew that the court would rule in favor of same-sex marriage. He promised the Log Cabin Republicans that he would not fight for traditional marriage and he seems to have delivered on that promise," Contrada commented.

"There's a New York Times story from 2007, which documents the promises he made to these fellows and quotes many of them. He said he would keep his head low during the whole constitutional conflict that was expected to come out of that ruling," Contrada said. "And it's not clear that he has ever disavowed any of the things he ever said to them."

Contrada said Romney's actions on the "gay" marriage issue has had its most severe impact on the schools.

"One (consequence) that bothers us here is what's happened in the schools. We have the infamous [David Parker] case that violates the parent's rights law here in Massachusetts," Contrada explained.

"The law allows parents to opt their children out of any curriculum dealing with sex education or with any human sexuality issues in the school. And now since gay marriage is considered legal in Massachusetts, though it's clearly not, parents are being denied any opportunity to opt their children out of anything relating to homosexual headed families, so all the little children, kindergarten, elementary school, they're all having these story books and fairy tales read to them like 'King and King' and one the David Parker issue brought up called 'Who's in a Family?'" Contrada elaborated.

"It went to federal court and the court ruled that because gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts, little children are subject to this kind of indoctrination," Contrada said.

Contrada added that fallout from the issue has been felt all the way to California.

"We know that that case had a lot to do with the marriage issue out in California when the voters approved a one-man, one-woman amendment to their constitution," she said.

"And we believe it also had a lot to do with what happened in Maryland. Parents were very concerned that if gay marriage become the law in Maryland and that they would no longer have control over what went on in the schools," Contrada observed.

Contrada also said Romney has two other issues that she said should be problematic for conservatives.

"The social issues have been somewhat downplayed recentl; Republicans are trying to say that we don't need to look at social issues such as gay marriage or abortion, but I'm a conservative who believes in the 'Three-Legged Stool' approach. You need all three legs to hold up the stool," Contrada said.

"Any conservative who wants to be a conservative has to be there on life issues. Still, everyone knows about his socialist health care plan, Romneycare and his flip-flops on abortion," Contrada said.

The Hill newspaper said Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch believes that Romney's health insurance program in Massachusetts isn't enough to harm his chances of capturing the nomination.

Contrada believes some social conservatives still support Romney because they are "spineless."

"They thought he would be the man back in 2007-2008 and didn't want to get on the wrong side of him and ride along so they could be part of the power structure in Washington if Romney becomes president," Contrada said.

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March 19, 2011