Mitt Romney's three-tier marriage
proposal which would grant marriage rights to some gay couples has
been rejected by gay GOP group Log Cabin Republicans.
The 64-year-old Romney made his
proposal during a wide-ranging interview with the Boston
Herald's editorial board.
Romney proposed a federal
constitutional amendment that would allow gay couples already legally
married to remain married but bar future marriages of gay couples.
R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of
Log Cabin Republicans, called the proposal unacceptable.
“Governor Romney is contorting
himself into a pretzel trying to avoid the simplest solution to a
purely political problem. The best way to strengthen all families is
to grant equal access to civil marriage for all couples regardless of
their orientation,” said Cooper
in a statement. “Governor Romney's proposal to create a
stratified system is a recipe for legal chaos. It is an offense to
the rights of states like New Hampshire that have chosen to legalize
marriage equality, and would, for the first time since the Civil War,
enshrine second class citizenship in the American Constitution. On
the state level, California is already struggling to deal with the
fallout of multiple classes of marriage rights imposed by Proposition
8, proving that this system simply doesn't work. Log Cabin
Republicans appreciate the governor's efforts to find middle ground,
but this is not an acceptable solution.”
Romney's proposed three-tier system is
similar to what has already happened in California, where passage of
a gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, put an end to the weddings of gay
couples, but the state's highest court kept intact the marriages of
18,000 gay couples performed during the brief window when such unions
were legal.
Romney's comments come just days after
a gay Vietnam veteran asked him his thoughts on Republicans' plans to
repeal a gay marriage law in New Hampshire. Romney said he supported
the effort to repeal the law. In an interview with MSNBC's Chris
Matthews, the veteran, Bob Garon, said
Romney “doesn't know about the constitution.”
(Related: Mitt
Romney inconsistent on gay rights? Depends on who you ask.)