December 20, 2011
New Poll: Romney Trusted Most with Gay Marriage
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 2 MIN.
A new poll shows that GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is the most trusted candidate on gay marriage, beating frontrunner Newt Gingrich, according to the Washington Post/ABC News poll.
Twenty-five percent of learned Republicans said they trust Romney with several social issues, including gay marriage and abortion. Gingrich came in second place with 15 percent and Michele Bachmann in third with 13 percent. Ron Paul was close behind with 12 percent of the vote and Rick Perry and Rick Santorum finished in the bottom of the poll with 7 and 4 percent respectively.
It seems Romney's views on gay marriage changed often, according to a Dec. 13 article by EDGE. The GOP candidate says he supports gay rights but is against same-sex marriage.
Several LGBT organizations are confused by Romney's stance on gay marriage and equal rights, especially since Romney was governor of Massachusetts and allowed town clerks to issue marriage license when the state legalized same-sex marriage.
A project manager at the Marriage Equality USA organization, Ned Flaherty, questioned Romney and his views on supporting employment rights but also backing the Defense of Marriage Act.
MassResistance, a Massachusetts anti-gay group, claims that while campaigning in Iowa, Romney publically supported "many of the homosexual movement's goals," in a Dec. 20 posting.
The organization called the statements "fairly shocking" and said that they are very different from the "hardcore social conservative fa�ade he presented" in 2008 when he first ran for president.
MassRessistance also reports that the GOP candidate is against same-sex marriage and vocalized his stance during the Dec. 15 GOP debate.
The organization goes on to say that Romney is the "most pro-homosexual Republican presidential nominee ever," if he does get the coveted nomination.
During the debate, Romney said that he does not believe in discrimination based on sexual orientation.
"As we all painfully know, 'full equality' and 'anti-discrimination' when used with 'sexual orientation' are code words for forcing everyone in society under penalty of law to accept homosexual (and transgender) behavior into their lives as normal, subverting their moral and religious beliefs," MassResistance writes in response to Romney's statement.
