Mitt Romney Gave Millions to Anti-Gay Organizations

Mitt Romney has finally released his tax returns for two (2) years and they disclose not only a combined two-year income of $43 million. That's right, $43 million during just two years. And the effective tax rate Romney paid was 13.9% - far less than that paid by many working class citizens. Indeed, Romney gave more to the Mormon Church than he paid to the IRS. But it gets even better. An analysis of the returns indicates that Romney was very generous to anti-gay organizations, including but not limited to the Mormon Church and Mass Resistance, a SPLC registered anti-gay hate group. My blogger friend Pam Spaulding addresses Romney's anti-gay "charitable" gifts. Here are some highlights:

So we have learned that . . . . while he [Romney] was telling voters he was “unemployed,” he was underwriting anti-gay activity — including the Mormon church, which bankrolled the ant-gay Proposition 8 campaign in California.

Mr. Romney, a Mormon, has long said that he had promised to give 10 percent of his income to his church. His tax return shows that over two years he and his wife, Ann, gave $7 million in charitable contributions, including $4.1 million to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

[T]he Mormon Church has not been subtle about its gay bashing, politically organizing against gay rights for decades, for years promoting its own “pray away the gay” program. Up until the 1970s the LDS church was even using brutal electroshock therapy to supposedly “cure” gays.

To underscore that, Think Progress LGBT reports on Romney’s Tyler Charitable Foundation that gave to the anti-gay Massachusetts Family Institute. Here’s more on that:

The Mormon Church is notoriously anti-gay, having raised an estimated $22 million in support of California’s Proposition 8 in 2008, in addition to providing close to 90 percent of the early door-to-door volunteers advocating for the discriminatory measure. Because of blowback from this effort, LDS has been less aggressive in anti-gay campaigns, although just last week church leaders endorsed Minnesota’s marriage discrimination amendment. Some have questioned whether its involvement in ballot measures should compromise the church’s tax-exempt status and there is an on-going petition calling on the IRS to revoke it.

Though Romney never specifically endorsed Prop 8 aside from opposing same-sex marriage in general, the Church’s success in passing the measure may have helped advance his credibility among social conservatives.

Not that I have ever been inclined to support Romney, his active support for organizations that seek to keep me a third class citizen -indeed less than fully human - there is no way I can in good conscience support the flip=flopping, duplicitous bastard. When it comes to my religious freedom, the man is little better than Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum.