Romney Exposed for Anti-LGBT Bigorty While in Massachusetts

New information out of Massachusetts indicates that Mitt Romney's anti-gay bigotry isn't something new and that, if anything, his claims to being gay friendly when he ran for the U.S. Senate were just more of his typical lies. It seems that in reality, Romney could not even stand to see the terms "transgender" and "bisexual" in print and went on to kill a state anti-bullying guide for Massachusetts public schools.  It's in keeping with the GOP's desire to keep LGBT citizens inferior under the law and ideally invisible.  The Boston Globe looks at Romney's action and the lie he used to cover up his real  anti-gay motivation.Andrew Sullivan rightly notes "And we all know what Mitt would have done to them in high school" referring to Romney's assault of a fellow high school student years ago who was perceived to be gay.  Here are highlights from the Boston Globe:

Former governor Mitt Romney’s administration in 2006 blocked publication of a state antibullying guide for Massachusetts public schools because officials objected to use of the terms “bisexual’’ and “transgender’’ in passages about protecting certain students from harassment, according to state records and interviews with current and former state officials.

Romney aides said publicly at the time that publication of the guide had been delayed because it was a lengthy document that required further review. But an e-mail authored in May of that year by a high-ranking Department of Public Health official - and obtained last week by the Globe through a public records request - reflected a different reason.

“Because this is using the terms ‘bisexual’ and ‘transgendered,’ DPH’s name may not be used in this publication,’’ wrote the official, Alda Rego-Weathers, then the deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Rego-Weathers said in the e-mail that she had been consulting with Romney’s office on the issue.

Stifling the guide’s publication was among steps that Romney and his aides took during his last year in office to distance the Republican governor from state programs designed to specifically support gays, lesbians, and bisexual and transgender people. His critics said it was part of an effort to court social conservatives as he prepared for his first campaign for president in 2008.

“Romney put his own political interests ahead of the safety of vulnerable youth,’’ said Don Gorton, a gay-rights advocate and author of the 120-page antibullying report, which was not printed and distributed until after Romney left office.

About 10,000 copies of the 120-page “Guide to Bullying Prevention’’ were ultimately published in 2008, during Democrat Deval Patrick’s first term in office. It contains advice for school administrators and teachers on how to curb bullying, cyberbullying, and hazing. A two-page section describes how gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth are frequent targets of bullying, and it offers contact information to find help.

The 2006 e-mail objecting to the “bisexual’’ and “transgender’’ language offers some of the clearest evidence of how some of Romney’s actions in office aligned with the goals of socially conservative activists, a key constituency in Republican presidential primary elections.

Many of the nation’s largest conservative, evangelical, and profamily organizations-such as the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, and Concerned Women for America - have opposed suicide prevention and anti-bullying programs intended to protect gay teens
In July 2006, Romney vetoed a $158,000 budget line item that was earmarked for counseling violence victims in the “LGBT community.’’ The appropriation was intended to prevent sexual violence and rape, and also for suicide prevention.The move to block the bullying report immediately followed Romney’s threat to shut down the Gay and Lesbian Youth Commission.

The question of Romney’s sensitivity to antigay bullying was raised anew recently after the Washington Post published an account of Romney’s days in prep school in 1965 when Romney allegedly held a fellow student down against his will and, along with classmates and to the cheers of others, forcibly cut off his long, bleached-blond hair. The student was gay, although not openly, and it was unclear to some whether Romney knew the boy’s sexual orientation at the time. Romney said he could not recall the incident . . . . 

Let's face reality: Romney is a bully, a liar, a bigot and a flaming asshole.  And, if elected, he'll be a puppet of the Christofascist hate merchants.  The nation does not need this type of "leadership."