• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Film/TV/Stream
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Tech/Science
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox

Gov. Romney Rejected Birth Certificates For Married Same-Sex Couples

Andrew Belonsky October 25, 2012


RomneyBabyThe Boston Globe
dug into records dating back to Mitt Romney's tenure as Massachusetts governor and found that Romney and his administration had an — shocker — inconsistent policy when it came to altering birth certificates to recognize same-sex couples legally married in the state after a 2003 court win.

Looking over exchanges between Romney's administration lawyers and state Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, it seems male couples were told to obtain court orders to gain "second parent" status, while female couples were at times given more leeway.

Hospitals had to confer with Romney's administration for each and every child born to same-sex couples, even though the Registry recommended a universally inclusive policy, the paper found.

"[Romney] insisted that his top legal staff individually review the circumstances of every birth to same-sex parents," writes Murray Waas. "The practice of requiring high-level legal review continued for the rest
of Romney’s term, despite a warning from a Department of Public Health
lawyer who said such a system placed the children of same-sex parents at
an unfair disadvantage."

Most of the birth-certificate reviews by the governor’s office appeared cursory. For example, health department deputy counsel Wiesenberg e-mailed Brian Leske and Nielsen on Dec. 23, 2004, to ask permission to issue a certificate regarding one birth: “Birth at UMass Memorial Medical Center. Facts (married mother, same sex spouse, anonymous donor) are similar to 23 other cases that Mark has reviewed . . . [and] instruct[ed] the hospital to list mother & same sex spouse as the second parent on the child’s birth certificate.”

Leske e-mailed back: “You are authorized to inform the Medical Center that may list the same sex spouse as a second parent on the birth certificate."

In another case, Leske wouldn't let a same-sex couple be listed as parents because they weren't married, a direct contradiction of previous stances.

Romney's camp at the time said in public that the certificates were not changed because that would require legislative action; the Registry and existing records say otherwise.

Waas also found some old speeches Romney made, including one in which he tried to raise fears about same-sex couples somehow damaging a kid.

"Scientific studies of children raised by same-sex couples are almost nonexistent," Romney told the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2004. "It may affect the development of children and thereby future society as a whole."

One year later, in 2005, he made his position clear in a speech before social conservatives: "Some gays are actually having children born to them/ It’s not right on paper. It’s not right in fact. Every child has a right to a mother and father."

Romney presidential campaign had no comment on the report.

Topics: Uncategorized More Posts About: 2012 election, gay adoption, Mitt Romney, Mitt Romney

Related Posts
  • Bipartisan senate letter calls for Abu Akleh investigation
  • ‘We’ve made it’: historic Supreme Court pick Jackson lauded at White House
  • Senate confirms Jackson as first Black woman on U.S. Supreme Court
  • Newsom’s attack ad on DeSantis could be 2024 presidential preview

    Newsom’s attack ad on DeSantis could be 2024 presidential preview

    Published by Orlando Sentinel ORLANDO, Fla. — Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $100,000 Fox News ad on Monday urging Floridians to “join the fight” against Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis “or join us in California” has drawn …Read More »
  • Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman admits pronouns ‘mistake’

    Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman admits pronouns ‘mistake’

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Marta Kauffman has admitted ‘Friends’ bosses made a “mistake” by using the wrong pronouns to describe a transgender character. In the show, Chandler Bing’s parent is referred to as his “dad” …Read More »
  • In Chicago, killings of transgender women of color often go unsolved. ‘There’s no justice,’ relatives say

    In Chicago, killings of transgender women of color often go unsolved. ‘There’s no justice,’ relatives say

    Published by Chicago Tribune CHICAGO — Speaking through tears, Rosemary Gamble returns again and again to the questions she would like to ask her granddaughter’s killer: Why did you do this? What could she have possibly …Read More »
  • Savage Garden star Darren Hayes was in a ‘dark place’ before coming out as gay

    Savage Garden star Darren Hayes was in a ‘dark place’ before coming out as gay

      Published by BANG Showbiz English   Darren Hayes was in a “dark place” before he came out as gay. The 50-year-old star – who is best known as frontman and singer of the pop duo …Read More »
Previous Post: « Colbert Offers Trump $1 Million To Tea-Bag Him: VIDEO
Next Post: ‘Mormon Missionary Positions’ Are Surprisingly Complex »

Primary Sidebar

News

  • Margot Robbie & Ryan Gosling Skate Through A Day Of Filming ‘Barbie’ In Venice Beach: Photos

    Margot Robbie & Ryan Gosling Skate Through A Day Of Filming ‘Barbie’ In Venice Beach: Photos

  • Six killed in shooting during US July 4 parade

    Six killed in shooting during US July 4 parade

  • US drought exposes murky mob past of Las Vegas

    US drought exposes murky mob past of Las Vegas

RSS Partner Links

  • R. Kelly Is Suing The Detention Center He’s Living In For Putting Him On Suicide Watch
  • OMG, baby, you’re a fire! Werk: Katy Perry tweets out in support of a woman’s right to choose on the 4th of July
  • Harry Styles Canceled His Copenhagen Show After A Shooting At A Mall Close To The Venue
  • Texas AG Wants To Re-Ban Gay Sex + Crimo Got His Gun Legally + Dem State Senator Twerks For Votes + Bette vs. Trans-Inclusive Language + MORE! — 12-PACK
  • WATCH: Brittney Griner’s wife calls for White House to do more to free WNBA star held in Russia
  • Billie Jean King, Roger Federer and other Wimbledon legends celebrate 100th anniversary of Centre Court
  • Elle Macpherson Brings Son Flynn Busson, 24, to Dior Fashion Show in Paris (Photos)

Most Recent

  • U.S. Justice Dept sues Arizona over restrictive voting requirements

    U.S. Justice Dept sues Arizona over restrictive voting requirements

  • Newsom’s attack ad on DeSantis could be 2024 presidential preview

    Newsom’s attack ad on DeSantis could be 2024 presidential preview

  • Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman admits pronouns ‘mistake’

    Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman admits pronouns ‘mistake’

  • In Chicago, killings of transgender women of color often go unsolved. ‘There’s no justice,’ relatives say

    In Chicago, killings of transgender women of color often go unsolved. ‘There’s no justice,’ relatives say

  • Savage Garden star Darren Hayes was in a ‘dark place’ before coming out as gay

    Savage Garden star Darren Hayes was in a ‘dark place’ before coming out as gay

  • Ohio city Akron imposes curfew after protests over police killing of Black man

    Ohio city Akron imposes curfew after protests over police killing of Black man

  • Elliot Page: ‘Never thought I would love a passport photo’

    Elliot Page: ‘Never thought I would love a passport photo’

  • Adele gifts VIP concert access to fan in exchange for Pride flag

    Adele gifts VIP concert access to fan in exchange for Pride flag

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy
[towleroadmr] [towleroadtn]

Footer

Copyright © 2022 · Log in