Romney Flip Flops on Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment

Once again proving that Mitt Romney and his campaign will say anything that the audience of the moment may want to hear, Romney has been dancing furiously on the issue of whether or not he supports an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  At first he's for it, next he's for states' rights in deciding marriage issues, and then he's back to supporting an anti-gay amendment, most likely after getting a whipping form the Christofascist element of the GOP base.  It is precisely the kind of behavior that lead to the Salt Lake City Tribune's decision to endorse Barack Obama.  Romney's positions on everything and anything morphs by the moment depending upon the audience.  Oh, and lets not forget his "plans" for tax cuts and dealing with the budget deficit are devoid of specifics.  Here are highlights from BuzzFeed on Romney's gyrations on the issue of an anti-gay constitutional amendment: 

A top Romney adviser disavowed remarks and a position reported this past week that appeared to be a reversal of the campaign's support of the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would bar states from allowing same-sex couples to marry.

Although campaign officials did not respond to inquiries prior to publication, Bay Buchanan issued a clarification to BuzzFeed this afternoon following initial publication of this story, writing, "Governor Romney supports a federal marriage amendment to the Constitution that defines marriage as an institution between a man and a woman. Governor Romney also believes, consistent with the 10th Amendment, that it should be left to states to decide whether to grant same-sex couples certain benefits, such as hospital visitation rights and the ability to adopt children. I referred to the Tenth Amendment only when speaking about these kinds of benefits – not marriage."

In a little-noted comment in the spin room following this past week's presidential debate in New York, Romney campaign senior adviser Bay Buchanan, the sister of former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, told The Advocate's Julie Bolcer, "He very much supports traditional marriage, but he's also a very strong advocate for the Tenth Amendment. It's a state issue."

The report also stated that when asked about how Romney's opposition to same-sex couples' marriage rights, including his support for the Defense of Marriage Act, would help same-sex parents, "Buchanan responded that Romney would not get in the way of what states decide to do on marriage and adoption." 

Although President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden support same-sex couples' right to marry, the decision to stop supporting the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment would have been a moderating move for the Romney campaign, whose party platform includes support for the amendment.

In April of this year, however, the National Organization for Marriage's chairman, John Eastman, said he expected no such change.

"Governor Romney has signed our pledge where he will defend the Defense of Marriage Act, where he will support an amendment to protect traditional marriage nationwide," he told a conservative radio host Steve Deace. "He has signed that pledge and we fully expect that he will honor his pledge in that regard."

Sadly, in the eyes of Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and the theocrats at NOM, gay Americans are little more than trash to be discarded or driven back into a totally inferior position under the nation's laws.  The First Amendment promise of freedom of religion only applies to conservative Christians in their warped and hate filled world view.