Mitt Romney has said he can't remember
bullying a gay student in high school but doesn't disagree with his
accusers.
The
Washington Post reported on Thursday, the day after President
Barack Obama announced his support for gay marriage, about the
troubling incident.
“John Lauber, a soft-spoken new
student one year behind Romney, was perpetually teased for his
nonconformity and presumed homosexuality. Now he was walking around
the all-boys school with bleached-blond hair that draped over one
eye, and Romney wasn't having it,” the paper reported.
The year was 1965 and Romney was a
senior at the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield, Michigan when,
according to five students who attended the school, he led a posse
who “tackled [Lauber] and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his
eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped
his hair with a pair of scissors.”
Lauber, who was gay, died in 2004.
Without admitting guilt, Romney
apologized on Fox News.
“I had no idea what that individual's
sexual orientation might be,” said Romney. “Going back to the
1960s that wasn't something that we all discussed or considered. So
that's simply not accurate. I don't recall the incident myself, but
I've seen the reports and [I'm] not going to argue with that.
There's no question but that I did some stupid things when I was in
high school. And obviously if I hurt anyone by virtue of that I
would be very sorry for it and apologize for it.”