It Gets Better? Romney Apologizes For Bullying Gay Classmates
May 10th, 2012 3:31 pm Henry Decker
On the day after Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. President to endorse gay marriage, Mitt Romney is defending himself against charges that he bullied gay classmates as a high school student.
“The people involved didn’t come out of the closet until years later,” Romney told a Fox News radio show. “I had no idea that this person might have been gay.”
“I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school and some may have gone too far. And for that I apologize,” he added.
The apology is in reference to a Washington Post article by Jason Horowitz, which reports that an 18 year old Romney refused to tolerate his gay classmate Jon Lauber walking around the ritzy Cranbrook School with long, bleached-blonde hair.
“That’s wrong. Just look at him!” Romney exclaimed. According to several sources including Romney’s friend Matthew Friedemann, things then took a dark turn:
A few days later, Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school’s collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber’s hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors.
According to the article, Romney also taunted a closeted gay classmate with calls of “atta girl!” in a separate incident.
The story hit at the worst possible time for Romney; as President Obama is lauded by gay rights groups for standing up for the freedom to marry, Romney — who supports a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage — is essentially being painted as a high school movie villain.
The controversy isn’t all negative for Romney; at the very least, his wife Ann’s claim that “there’s a wild and crazy man” inside of Mitt seems far more credible now.
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.
IP: Logged |
TRENDING: Marriage Equality LGBT Rights North Carolina Marriage Equality: North Carolina Mitt Romney
Romney Brags AT CPAC: ‘We Prevented Massachusetts From Becoming The Las Vegas Of Gay Marriage’
By Igor Volsky on Feb 10, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Mitt Romney touted his opposition to marriage equality at CPAC this afternoon by mocking the 2003 state Supreme Court decision which found that Massachusetts did not have a rational basis for denying same-sex couples marriage on due process and equal protection grounds.
“The Supreme court found a right to same-sex marriage in the constitution written by John Adams. I presume he would be surprised,” Romney said to great laughter, and bragged about using an obscure 1913 law (originally intended to limit interracial marriage), to keep out-of-state couples from marrying in Massachusetts:
ROMNEY: I fought to have a stay on that decision, then pushed for a marriage amendment to our Constitution. We lost by only one vote in the legislature. And I successfully prohibited out- of-state couples from coming to our state to get married and then going home. On my watch, we fought hard and prevented Massachusetts from becoming the Las Vegas of gay marriage.
When I am president, I will defend the Defense of Marriage Act, and I will fight for an amendment to our Constitution that defines marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. Romney sought to position himself as a real conservative and appeal to the Republican base, but his remarks represent a stark contrast from his past support for the LGBT community. In 1994, while running for a seat in the Senate, Romney told the GOP group Log Cabin Republicans, “We must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern.”
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.
IP: Logged |
posted
wow, how long ago was that? 40 something years ago Ray? Really? This is all the left can come up with?
Good grief, and all the sheep follow the media on it. Unbelievable. Im sure Ray never did anything questionable in HIGH SCHOOL.
HIGH SCHOOL PEOPLE!
Oh, and Ray...the whole flip flop thing sure came out with Obama the other day. What another Joke. Obama has flip flopped on gay marriage more than once. How ironic that the day after Obama says he is for gay marriage then George Clooney announces a $40,000 a plate fundraiser for Hollywood elite liberals. The pocketbooks decide how Obama views gay marriage apparently.
-------------------- It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.
IP: Logged |
posted
wow,47 years ago Ray... Really? This is all the left can come up with?
Good grief, and all the sheep follow the media on it. Unbelievable. Im sure Ray never did anything questionable in HIGH SCHOOL.
HIGH SCHOOL PEOPLE!
Oh, and Ray...the whole flip flop thing sure came out with Obama the other day. What another Joke. Obama has flip flopped on gay marriage more than once. How ironic that the day after Obama says he is for gay marriage then George Clooney announces a $40,000 a plate fundraiser for Hollywood elite liberals. The pocketbooks decide how Obama views gay marriage apparently.
Really weak on both angles ray, really weak. High school pranks and obama flip flopping.
-------------------- It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.
IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by CashCowMoo: wow,47 years ago Ray... Really? This is all the left can come up with?
Good grief, and all the sheep follow the media on it. Unbelievable. Im sure Ray never did anything questionable in HIGH SCHOOL.
HIGH SCHOOL PEOPLE!
Oh, and Ray...the whole flip flop thing sure came out with Obama the other day. What another Joke. Obama has flip flopped on gay marriage more than once. How ironic that the day after Obama says he is for gay marriage then George Clooney announces a $40,000 a plate fundraiser for Hollywood elite liberals. The pocketbooks decide how Obama views gay marriage apparently.
Really weak on both angles ray, really weak. High school pranks and obama flip flopping.
how come it's OK to buy Congress to make holes in th eground, but not OK to buy a social issue? huh? tell me.
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.
IP: Logged |
posted
Lesbian Woman Arrested After Seeking Marriage License In North Carolina
By Ian Millhiser on May 11, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Yesterday, Mary Jamis and her partner joined eight other gay and lesbian couples to seek a marriage license at the Register of Deeds office in Winston-Salem. Although the other couples left the office after being denied, Jamis and a straight friend of hers who joined the protest chose to remain behind and refuse to leave until Jamis was given her constitutional right to marry the person she loves.
This is at least the third time a North Carolina woman was arrested simply for insisting upon her constitutional right to be free from marriage discrimination. Last fall, a lesbian couple who had been together for 30 years were arrested after seeking a marriage license in Asheville, NC.
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.
IP: Logged |
posted
Romney’s Character Questioned as Stories of Anti-Gay Bullying Surface; Judy Shepard Speaks Out
Washington Post exposes troubling incidents from Romney’s past
05/10/2012
Washington – The Human Rights Campaign – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization – is calling into question Mitt Romney’s character, after a piece in the Washington Post raises troubling incidents from the candidate’s past. In the article, classmates of Romney at the prestigious Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, recall Romney perpetually teasing a classmate perceived to be gay, at one point yelling to the long-haired classmate, “He can’t look like that. That’s wrong. Just look at him!” Eventually the verbal harassment turned into physical violence, when Romney led a group of students who tackled him, pinned him to the ground, and cut his hair with a pair of scissors, all because Romney didn’t like the way he looked.
According to the article, Mitt Romney claims to have no recollection of the physical altercation, or of bullying the student. However, five of his classmates gave their accounts of the incident to the Washington Post and all have similar recollections of what transpired. One of the students, recalling the victim being terrified, later apologized to him and said, “What a senseless, stupid, idiotic thing to do.” In an interview after the article was published, Romney recalled his youth saying, “Back in high school I did some dumb things.”
Judy Shepard, whose son Matthew was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in 1998 said: “While this may seem like an innocent prank to some, it was an act of torment against a child for being different. We expect the people we elect to be leaders in the charge against bullying so that all students are afforded the right to learn and grow in an environment free of fear. This incident calls into question whether Mitt Romney can be an advocate for the nation’s most vulnerable children.”
“We cannot look past this incident now that Romney is the presumptive Republican nominee for president,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Mitt Romney’s unwillingness to understand or acknowledge the gravity of his actions and sincerely apologize is a troubling suggestion of a lack of character.” is a troubling suggestion of a lack of character.”
With Mitt Romney’s anti-gay past exposed, it is clear why he has flip flopped on the issue of LGBT rights, becoming a vehemently anti-equality candidate in the race for the presidency. Yesterday as President Obama demonstrated clear leadership in expressing his support for marriage equality, Romney told a Denver news station: "If a civil union is identical to marriage other than in the name, I don't support that.”
“Mitt Romney has come full-circle in his views on LGBT equality. He has gone from being a bully perpetuating violence on a classmate who was different from him, to a candidate who in 1994 said he would be better to the LGBT community than Ted Kennedy, to a candidate in 2012 whose views are in line with the most fringe anti-LGBT groups,” added Solmonese.
Learn more about Romney’s disastrous track record on issues of LGBT equality at hrc.org/mittnmatch.
The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.
IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
