President Obama vs. Gov. Romney on LGBT issues
Same-sex marriage / Defense Of Marriage Act:
Lesbian and gay adoption:
HIV/AIDS funding and research:
Discrimination in the workplace:
Barack Obama received a wave of enthusiasm from young voters, progressive voters and LGBT people in 2008, but his positions attracted skepticism and frustration from LGBT people and allies after he took office, when his personal views, described by one White House spokesperson as “evolving,” teetered only at the cusp of endorsing full equality. The president had campaigned on support for civil unions that are identical to marriage, but not using the word “marriage” itself – while many speculated he privately supported equality – and on having an inclusive White House that would push for LGBT-friendly legislation. The President took the leap in June 2012, announcing a personal view that same-sex couples ought to be able to marry, complimenting his administration’s strong position that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, and successful push for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Barack Obama is the first U.S. president to publicly endorse same-sex marriage, the first to so explicitly describe LGBT rights as civil rights rather than a “social issue,” and has had by far the strongest record of support for LGBT causes of any U.S. president to date.
Mitt Romney, who in a 1996 Senate race against Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy announced he’d be a stronger advocate of LGBT rights than Kennedy was, has since moved far to the Right on those issues – leaving his personal views uncertain. Did he revise his views toward the Right to score on the national political stage – the way that many accused President Obama of doing for not endorsing same-sex marriage – or was his previous support for LGBT rights the revision, chosen to help him win office in left-leanign Massachusetts? Romney is a deeply religious man and privately practices his Mormon faith ardently, but he has said his religion shouldn’t play a role in government (at least when it comes to having lesbians and gays on his staff) and even some of his closest former aides and allies have said publicly they don’t know Romney’s views, or if the candidate even has personal views, on LGBT rights. During the 2012 campaign Romney has taken varying positions on key LGBT issues, in one case telling a Fox News interviewer that lesbians and gays should have the right to adopt and the next day revising the statement to say he was simply stating a fact that most states allow lesbians and gays to adopt, not expressing a personal view whether that was a good thing. It’s unclear what Romney would do to advance or block LGBT-friendly legislation as president, but as a campaign platform he has endorsed a U.S. Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, said that regardless of the law it’s important for a President to advocate opposite-sex couples as better for children, and pledges to reverse White House policy on the Defense of Marriage Act.
PLUS:
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