Life for LGBT Americans under President Romney

by HRC Staff

A Romney victory would adversely affect our community on every issue from relationship recognition to bullying.

Mitt RomneyPost submitted by Dan Rafter, former HRC Associate Director of Communications

LGBT Americans face a grim future under a President Mitt Romney – with much of the progress we’ve made under President Obama likely threatened.

Imagine a reality under President Romney.

President Romney is bound by the NOM “marriage vow,” he signed in 2011 – so you can expect him not only to push for a federal marriage amendment, but also set up a McCarthy-like commission to look into allegations of “harassment” against NOM’s supporters. Just a few weeks ago, the Romney campaign again re-iterated its support for a federal marriage amendment. That would essentially legally divorce same-sex couples already legally married.

Romney also has pledged to uphold the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – which the Obama administration believes is unconstitutional and no longer defends. Under President Romney, same-sex couples will continue to be denied over 1,100 federal benefits and protections – remaining second class citizens in the eyes of the federal government.

Want to advance workplace protections? Not under President Romney – despite a 1994 pledge to co-sponsor that session’s version of ENDA, Romney has since backed far, far away from protecting LGBT workers. Now, he claims federal workplace protections for LGBT Americans would “open a litigation floodgate and unfairly penalize employers at the hands of activist judges.”

What about creating more welcoming environments for LGBT families? President Romney sees LGBT families as abhorrent, incredulously telling a crowd in South Carolina several years ago that, much to his dismay, same-sex couples were marrying in Massachusetts, and “some of them are even having children born to them.”

His Vice President, Paul Ryan, won’t be any better for our community – he shares the same anti-LGBT views as Romney himself. Ryan even voted against federal hate crimes protections for LGBT people.

President Romney wouldn’t just make being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender difficult through legislation like DOMA or a federal marriage amendment. His close affiliation with groups like NOM, and the disregard with which he approaches equality, sends a message to the most extreme anti-gay groups that it’s ok to publically discriminate against LGBT Americans.

The stakes in this election are simply too high – every single aspect of our lives stand to be adversely affected by a Romney administration: our ability to marry whom we love and start families; our workplace security; and even our efforts to stand up to youth bullying in schools. We are facing a choice between a President who advocates for our right to marry, for our families, and for the safety of our youth – versus a candidate who regularly denies us the basic human dignity and respect we all deserve.

Get to the polls and vote for equality – and be sure to urge your family and friends to do the same.

You can track all the results of tomorrow’s key races live with us at HRC. Visit www.hrc.org/election to learn more.

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