BOSTON - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's political record is relatively brief — four years as Massachusetts governor and a failed campaign for the U.S. Senate. That's enough, however, for Brian Camenker, a conservative gadfly and longtime thorn in Romney's side, to write a 28-page report that portrays Romney as sympathetic to gay rights and sexual behavior that clashes with his burnished image as a defender of traditional values.
Camenker's report, which has been making the rounds of conservative blogs and Web sites, threatens to undermine Romney's carefully crafted image, portraying him as far more liberal on social issues, particularly gay rights.
Detailed in the report, which includes five pages of footnotes and sources, are several mostly obscure incidents during Romney's four-year tenure as governor: a news release by a state advisory commission on gay youth, a proclamation hailing a gay pride parade, and distribution of a safe sex pamphlet, among others.
Romney's record on such touchstone social issues as homosexuality is crucial as he pitches himself to conservative Republican voters as a bulwark against gay marriage in the only state that allows same-sex marriage.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070112/ap_on_el_pr/romney2008