Romney and Same-Sex Marriage

It seems to be a slow Monday morning at WingNutDaily, because they have this feature article which invokes the wisdom of "experts," 0n the subject of Mitt Romney...crediting him with "homosexual marriage." As I read over the article...which is incredibly long-winded and rambling...I noticed that all the so-called experts who were asked to contribute were all on the extremely conservative end of the political spectrum. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, considering the source, but I was surprised that his current stance concerning same-sex marriage wasn't directly addressed. Here are a couple of examples of Romney facts presented in the article...

"Romney's aides have told WND that after four of the seven court members
reinterpreted the definition of marriage, he believed he had no choice but to
direct clerks and others to change state marriage forms and begin registering
same-sex couples.
Some opponents contend that with those actions, Romney did
no more or less than create the first homosexual marriages recognized in the
nation."

Okay, so Romney acted because the courts gave him no choice? I still don't buy that, but I think that WND is giving Romney way too much credit for creating homosexual marriage in this country. Here's a campaign quote that makes my point...

"It was Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for the Romney campaign, who told WND
that Romney, "by virtue of being at ground zero in the culture wars … has been
the most outspoken defender of traditional marriage in the country."
He said
Romney "took every conceivable step within the law to defend traditional
marriage. He held rallies, he went to court, he lobbied legislators and he used
the bully pulpit of his office to make effective public arguments in favor of
marriage as the union of a man and a woman."
Romney also enforced a 1913 law
prohibiting couples from coming to Massachusetts to get married if they were
barred from marrying in their home state, he said.
"The enforcement of this
law stopped gay marriage from being visited on virtually every other state in
the nation," he said."

So now, Romney is an "outspoken defender of traditional marriage," and a candidate who will most likely fight against gay rights issues should he be elected. What became even more clear in reading this article was that the goal seemed to be geared less toward demonizing Romney and more toward demonizing gay rights as a whole. For example...

"In a previously issued statement he made in support of the Federal Marriage
Amendment, FitzGibbon warned of the immediate and dramatic social impact of such
a decision, including a mandate by public schools in Massachusetts to teach
homosexuality to children.
He noted one school dictum that said,
"Administrators, teachers, parents and students are reminded that no action or
speech will be tolerated that results in harassment, discrimination, bias or
intimidation toward any member of our community for any reasons, including
his/her sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation."

"The effect of the Goodridge decision has been to encourage the indoctrination
of public school students in the merits of legalization of [same-sex marriage],"
he said."

And there it is...directing school officials against permitting any harassment of students based on their sexual orientation is now tantamount to teaching homosexuality to children. Following that logic, disallowing any derogatory speech aimed at differing ethnic groups is the same as indoctrinating and recruiting children for the Neo-Nazi movement.

The WingNuts are trying to credit Romney with the inception of same-sex marriage, including the benefits and responsibilities that should follow, but have seemingly succeeded in taking another opportunity to denounce the idea of gay rights. In truth, Romney is being given way too much credit, and his flip-flop soundbites on the various gay rights issues are proof that it depends who his audience is as to what he'll say or do.