Conservative Babylon

“I oppose same-sex marriage. That’s been my position from the beginning.”

“As a gay-marriage proponent, I was pleased to learn that then-Gov. Willard Mitt Romney, R-Mass., issued at least 189 special-issue, one-day marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2005 alone. These documents let these 378 people enjoy nuptials officiated by relatives, friends and others who normally do not perform weddings. …

“While Team Romney argues that the SJC forced it to give gay couples conventional marriage licenses, the special, one-day licenses are a strictly gubernatorial choice, as Massachusetts law unambiguously states:

“‘The governor may in his discretion designate a justice of the peace in each town … as he considers expedient, to solemnize marriages … .’ The law continues: ‘the governor may designate any other person to solemnize a particular marriage … .’

“‘Even if one accepts the Goodridge decision as constitutional, the one-day permits were above and beyond what was required by the court decision; they were purely discretionary,’ says Steve Baldwin, former executive director of the Council for National Policy and a one-time Republican Whip in California’s State Assembly. ‘Romney did not have to issue any permits at all. This calls into question his authenticity as an alleged social-conservative candidate.’ …

“If Romney truly opposed gay marriage as fervently as he claims, he could have exercised his discretion and refused to grant these one-day licenses to same-sex couples. … Instead, under no obligation to do so, Romney chose to give these particular licenses to gay couples.”

We’re running a big batch of special posts on Mitt Romney’s flip-flops & other appalling examples of hypocrisy from now until all polls close Tuesday night. Add your own on Twitter using the hashtag #RomneyHypocrisy (and feel free to re-tweet ours)!

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