BOSTON, Mass.—Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is scheduled to headline a fundraiser for Charlie Baker and Karyn Polito in Boston this evening. MassEquality Executive Director Kara Coredini offered the following response: [pullquote]Because of leaders like Martha Coakley, who led our state’s Anti-Bullying Commission and earlier this year saw her LGBTQ anti-bullying bill passed and signed into law, our state has some of the strongest protections for youth.[/pullquote]
“It comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with Charlie Baker and Karyn Polito’s records that Mitt Romney, who made a national name for himself opposing LGBT equality, would visit Boston to validate and raise funds for their gubernatorial ticket. Baker’s first act as a potential Governor has been to bring Polito, one of Romney’s closest lieutenants when she was in the State House and currently a rising star in the Tea Party, onto his ticket. As a lawmaker, Polito worked shoulder-to-shoulder with Romney in his relentless crusade to strip the Commonwealth’s same-sex couples of the freedom to marry, and she voted against repealing a racist anti-miscegenation law that Romney had revived to prevent same-sex couples from other states from marrying in Massachusetts. Polito opposed funding for support services for LGBTQ youth, and both Baker and Polito oppose protecting transgender people from discrimination. And, of course, both subscribe to the tenets of the state Republican Party, which “updated” its platform to oppose marriage equality earlier this year, just weeks before Massachusetts celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the freedom to marry. [pullquote]”It comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with Charlie Baker and Karyn Polito’s records that Mitt Romney, who made a national name for himself opposing LGBT equality, would visit Boston to validate and raise funds for their gubernatorial ticket. Baker’s first act as a potential Governor has been to bring Polito, one of Romney’s closest lieutenants when she was in the State House and currently a rising star in the Tea Party, onto his ticket.[/pullquote]
“Today is Spirit Day, a national day of reflection on the bullying epidemic and its dire, sometimes fatal, consequences for LGBTQ youth. Because of leaders like Martha Coakley, who led our state’s Anti-Bullying Commission and earlier this year saw her LGBTQ anti-bullying bill passed and signed into law, our state has some of the strongest protections for youth. These young people need to have an advocate in the Corner Office who is invested in them. They cannot afford a Romney 2.0 administration and our Commonwealth, a national leader on civil rights and equality, can do better.”
MassEquality is the leading statewide grassroots advocacy organization working to ensure that everyone across Massachusetts can thrive from cradle to grave without discrimination and oppression based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.
[From a News Release]
