Romney has always opposed same-sex marriage. He diligently lobbied Congress in favor of a Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) to the U.S. Constitution defining marriage to be between one man and one woman. Romney testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the Federal Marriage Amendment, and sent a letter to all 100 U.S. Senators on June 2, 2006 asking them to vote for the Amendment. Sen. John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson oppose the FMA.
Maggie Gallagher, writing for National Review Online, wrote that the Governor’s testimony on the issue before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee was one of “the single most eloquent and articulate defense of our traditional understanding of marriage I have heard from an American politician.”
Governor Romney: “Some argue that our principles of federalism and local control require us to leave the issue of same sex marriage to the states—which means, as a practical matter, to state courts. Such an argument denies the realities of modern life and would create a chaotic patchwork of inconsistent laws throughout the country. Marriage is not just an activity or practice which is confined to the border of any one state. It is a status that is carried from state to state. Because of this, and because Americans conduct their financial and legal lives in a united country bound by interstate institutions, a national definition of marriage is necessary.”
(”The Importance of Protecting Marriage”, Letter from Gov. Romney to U.S. Senate, June 2, 2006)
Read all the posts, Deb. By implementing the ruling through executive orders rather than waiting for the legislature to act (which would have required a supermajority, because of his veto) effectively enabled gay marriage to get underway in Massachusetts. It doesn’t make any difference that he now says he opposes it or that he supports the virtually hopeless prospects of the FMA. When he really had the wherewithal to kill “gay marriage” in the crib, not only did he do nothing, he actually ordered th town clerks to issue the licenses!!
It is hard to take him seriously on any issue, in light of this. It is even harder to trust him on the very important issues (Right to Life, 2nd Amendment, gay rights, etc) that he has only recently flip flopped on.