Yes, I know that Obama has been a war-monger who has
curtailed civil liberties and protections for everyone and yes, I would rather
see a third party offer a true choice for all Americans. A Romney presidency
would privatize life here in the USA
and survival or the fittest would be our new national slogan. But as horrible as
his “leadership” would be for immigrants, women, working and poor people in
general, but it would be absolutely devastating to the well-being of LGBT
Americans.
Romney has stated that the right to hospital visitation by a
significant other would be up-for-grabs on a state-by-state basis under his
administration. There would be more incidents like the Florida
case where in April of 2010, Janice Langbehn was denied access to her dying
partner of the past 18 years, Lisa Marie Pond.
Mitt has stated he will enshrine a marriage equals one man
and one woman clause in the US Constitution and do everything in his power to
take away same-gender marriage rights in those few states that have them.
He will ensure that the children of LGBT couples are
discriminated against by noting on their birth certificates by striking out the
words mother and father and writing in parent one and parent two. He resisted
the printing out of gender-neutral birth certificates because this would be
“detrimental to the family unit.” What would become of these “detrimental” families and their children is anybody’s guess but certainly not his concern.
When it comes to the issue of bullying in schools, Romney
has opposed any administration-based efforts to oppose this practice or even to
educate people about homophobia and gender-based bigotry.
Queer folks will need to kiss goodbye any hope of ending
immigration and green card discrimination, housing discrimination,
discrimination in access to “public” facilities, job discrimination and any
other kind of anti-gay prejudice you can think of because Romney would try to
take this country back to the days when gay sex itself was illegal.
In this era of hyper-nostalgia when all rights of women,
religious and anti-religious minorities and immigrants are at stake it is
important to draw the line somewhere. Yes, I know that the Obama administration
is problematic in a multitude of ways, but the election of Mitt Romney would be
an absolute nightmare.
Now as we are witnessing the effects of climate change first
hand, we have a presidential candidate who has proposed to end FEMA funding
too. Romney is a walking nightmare. I lived through the oppression of the fifties and have zero desire to repeat that experience
now!
